A Different Kind of Joy
by Salt-Upon-Wounds
Summary: A more loose Shinji, giving into the life he chose and fully loving it. Hope y'all enjoy. As of 11/24/15, this part is done, second part The Zone. The first part of this story maybe written horribly, but I like to believe I got better over the time I spent writing this. The whole story doesn't go like the first part thankfully.
1. Chapter 1: So much happier in the woods

Blah, Blah, Blah, first story, blah, enjoy.

Do not own anything from NGE or Gainax, y'all have fun.

Shinji will be featuring in First Person, only way I can figure to do this easily. Also should mention, not the most sane kid on earth. By that I mean enjoy the "going off the rails on the crazy train."

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"Yeah, don't take this personally but I could really not give any less of a shit about it." I said to the man sitting in front of me. Black sunglasses, nice suit. Obviously someone who either thought they were the top dog or someone who thought it was intimidating. Did not really phase me.

"Your father is summoning you to Tokyo-3. He also has taken back all parental rights. You are required by law to go back to him." The suited man said, fidgeting with the lighter in his hands.

"What part of "I. DO. NOT. GIVE. A. SHIT." Do you not understand?" I asked back, somewhat annoyed. This guy seriously thought he was going to get me to go to (my literal) hell.

"Look, I can understand you dislike your father for various reasons, but the law dictates that since you are a minor you have to under his custody, so we are either going to allow you to go there yourself, or we will take you there." He said, clicking the lid to the zippo.

"And how exactly do you plan on forcing me to go anywhere?" I asked.

"Same way we do for every minor. We put them in the back seat and deliver them back to their parents." He said.

"Can I have one second? I have got to take a piss." I asked.

"Feel free. A child your age might also want to be a little less vulgar. Makes them seem less mature." He was joking at my expense.

"Okay then how about this. I wish for you to take your paperwork and shove it into the darkest crevice in your body, so far up there, that it will never see the light of day again. It would please me very much. Then I would like for you to leave the confines of this house. By the law that you quote unquote are going by, I am pretty sure you have to have a warrant to even come in here. Along with the fact that you do not, and have not presented one, I am asking you nicely to leave. Thank you for your time." I said then stood up and headed to the bathroom.

"Damn this kid is annoying." One of the men in the room said as I walked out the door.

Entering the bathroom, I took care of my little pressure problem. "Fuck these guys." I said before zipping up my pants. I went over to the sink and washed my hands then flushed the toilet, hoping the noise would block out the noise I was about to make. I quickly headed over to the window and lifted the glass up, then pushed out the wire screen. Looking at the house that had served as my home for ten (give or take) years was a bit saddening, but, I figured "Eh... Fuck it." then jumped out the window.

"Sir, the child is gone." Someone up above yelled.

I started running towards the woods that surrounded the area of which I lived. I figured I could escape them there. "Safe." I whispered to myself when I disappeared along the tree line. If anything they would spend days looking for me. I had the woods mapped out in my head, knowing every creek and hole from my time I had spent here over the years.

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Day 1

Slowly exploring the inside of the cave I discovered, it went down further than I expected. When I was finally done searching I noticed that a part of the cave led into a mining shaft, making this the perfect spot to hide away and escape if need be. "Now I need water." I said to myself before leaving my new found home for the time being. I had to walk farther than my usual distance from outside the house. I had spent a majority of this morning and afternoon just hiking away from that place. I didn't want to have to travel to Tokyo-3, much less be anywhere near my father. In fact, every time someone even mentioned that man I decided that I wanted nothing more than to rip his bloody head off (if I got the chance). He had discarded me after my mother's "supposed" death before I was even five. Most of the rumors led to the fact that he might have been the one to do it. I didn't care either way. I really didn't care about the fact that he might of done it. I disliked the idea of being anywhere near my "parents." They were useless, serving no purpose in my life.

Day 7

I sighed looking at my latest catch. I had found a small pit and turned it into trap for food, inside was a feral boar, it was still alive and screaming it's head off. I climbed down into the pit slowly, not wanting to injure myself. I took my knife from the wooden shaft I had mounted it on to make a spear and sliced the boar's neck, serving to silence it and kill it. I then pulled the boar off the spikes, tying it to some rope I had braided from various vines around the area. After I had accomplished that I got out of pit and hauled the rope up to get my catch.

I slowly approached camp. Couldn't be too safe with all the commotion. The police were still searching the area for me. I thought by now they would have given up. They hadn't searched this hard when a killer was going around the area, wiping out the "undesirables" of society. I really doubted that their skill had improved. I mean come on, if they didn't catch him, what chance did they have of catching me? My cave was decidedly safe. I tied a rock to one end of the rope I had made earlier, and threw it over a tree. Once it came back down on the other side I pulled the boar into a position that I could skin it from. I had much experience surviving in the woods. I absolutely hated being around other people. They were at best misinformed, at worse complete assholes. Eventually the chore was done and I now had enough meat and skin to last me awhile, along with a new pair of blankets if I could get the fat off. That night I feasted on the flesh of my kill.

Day 17

"FUCK!" I screamed as a sharp pain penetrated my back, then replaced the pain was replaced by numbness. Looking around I saw a colorful dart sticking out of my back. "OH GOD DAMN IT!" I yelled, then charged the bush I was sure the dart had come from. To my surprise a man jumped out as I shoved my makeshift spear into the bush. He screamed as the spear dug into his leg. "I AM SO GOING TO KILL YOU!" I said before everything started going black, along with three or four more stinging sensations that rippled across my body. "I... SHIT..." I said before I passed out.

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"God damn this kid was hard to catch." A man said behind the glass window. Hadn't seen his like before.

"You don't know the half of it." Another said, agreeing.

"Mr. Ikari, after this little stunt we have no choice but to return you to your father." The suited man from before my little escapade said.

Staying deathly silent I glared at him. I then tried lifting my hands from where they were cuffed into the metal table. "FUCK!" I yelled, obviously pissed. This wasn't over, not by a long shot.

"You have no choice but to come with us." The man said with a smirk. Thinking he had won.

"Fine. Whatever." I said agreeing for now.

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The next few hours were a long ride in a locked down police car, with me reading a folder silently in the back. It didn't explain much about this NERV organization that I would be going near but it did give me a few details about who was going to pick me up, along with a picture of the woman. "Does she have no shame?" I asked aloud when I saw the photo. It was a attractive woman wearing very little with a writing that said "Look here!" pointing at her breasts.

My name is Shinji, I am currently 14, or at least I think so. I am heading to Tokyo 3 to go see my father after he has neglected me for 3 or so years, not that I have not enjoyed my time. First I tried to run away, and that hadn't worked. Now I decided that a little payback was in order; however that stopped short when I arrived.

The police car screeched to a stop and the doors unlocked. Seeing my chance I opened the door and rolled out. The car then started going in reverse until it hit another car, knocking the asshole that drove me down here out. Luck was on my side so far. I glanced down the street to what would make him so reckless.

I saw what I thought was a ghost flash down the street. It was a girl in a school uniform, blue hair, white skin, the greatest feature though, were the soul piercing red eyes. She was a beautiful sight. I then noticed a bunch of aircraft fly right down the same street and she disappeared into thin air. Once of the aircraft rebounded close to me, into the building above the police car. An explosion rang out into the afternoon air, nearing me with ever passing millisecond. I watched as most of the building collapsed on that assholes car, and saw a red splatter against the pavement from where the open door was. While I was watching a blue sports car screeched right next to me. The woman who's picture I had received earlier today pulled me into her car and started speeding down the road, she seemed excited about the action and destruction going on and rightfully so, my blood was almost on fire when I started to see the ruble some of the buildings were reduced to.

"So you are Gendo's son, I can barely see the resemblance." She said, trying to make small talk while I was busy watching the explosions and chaos.

"Eh, I barely remember what my father looks like to tell you the truth." Which was true to a certain degree, I could not exactly remember what his face looked like because it was readily replaced by whoever in the past I found to be irritating. I honestly believed I had seen his face on every single corpse that I had ever seen, and I had seen my fair share. I shoved that bile feeling back down that I got if I thought about him.

"So, your father called you into Tokyo 3, want to know why?" She asked cheery as could be.

I thought for a minute and decided on the most truthful answer: "I really don't care but I have a suspicion that I am going to be used in some form or fashion knowing that man."

The purple haired woman then looked to the sky. "We need to stop for a second. I need to get a good look at what is going on." She said then pulled out a pair of binoculars. She looked into the distance out of her window and I saw the impossible. A giant monstrosity in the form of man was destroying the entire city. I couldn't help it, but to start laughing. I then noticed that the aircraft around it were flying back towards us. "OH CRAP! They are dropping an N2 Mine." She then grabbed a hold of me and pushed me down. I felt as the car was lifted off the ground and smashed back into it again. "Are you alright?" The woman asked.

"Yes, can we go again?" I asked and felt where I was entirely too sure that a large lump would form in a few hours.

"Well we need to get out and flip the car back up." She said and pulled me out. I decided to help her flip the car back upright. After we got it to a convenience store, the woman went in and took four car batteries from inside the shop.

It took us five minutes to drive what should of took fifteen. By the time we hit the end of the road and settled on a platform, I was ready to puke, and so I did. 'Note to self, do not get into a car with crazy drivers.' I added that one to my mental checklist.

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Once inside, the car was lowered onto a platform, that went down; deep into the earth. Looking around I saw everything below.

"This is the Geofront." The purple haired woman said.

"Okay, well, where are we supposed to be going?" I asked.

"To meet your father." She responded and I shut up.

The rest of the ride down was in silence, other than the woman mentioning that "I was just like her." She had apparently had issues with her father when she was a child too. When we had finally reached an elevator we got out of the car and were lowered deeper into the earth. We finally got to a maze of pathways before she took my hand and stepped on one, pulling me along with her.

A quarter of an hour had passed before I decided to say it. "And we are lost. Aren't we?"

"Look, I am new here too. Don't judge. At least these walkways move by themselves, I mean, we could be walking right now? You want to do that?" She asked looking back at me, annoyance plain on her face.

"Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, please pick up your phone." The speakers around the place groaned out. Before anything else could happen the moving pathway dropped us in front of a elevator. A blond woman in a swimsuit stepped out.

"Don't tell me you are already lost Misato." The blond woman said.

"Oh don't worry about that Rits." The purple haired woman named Misato said.

"I really should have read that picture." I groaned aloud, realizing that her name was probably on it somewhere.

"So, this is the troublesome Third Child." Dr. Ritsuko said, motioning toward me. "He doesn't look like much."

"More than you could handle." I said sarcastically back.

Her grin was immediately replaced with a frown. "Get him to the Eva cages." She said before stepping out of the elevator.

"Nice job kid, didn't know you had it in you!" Misato said laughing.

"Had what?" I asked thoroughly confused.

She just sighed and pushed a button. We were rushed down the elevator shaft toward the lake below. There was a gate with yellow and black bands on it, as if to say caution. When the elevator stopped we began to walk toward them.

Once we got into the gates, I heard a loud explosion taking place, euphoria shocking my whole system, I loved it when I could feel the earth quake beneath my feet, soaking in the absolute feeling of power, though it didn't last long. I was being escorted by Misato to the Eva cages (what the hell is an Eva anyway), once there I saw a sight I quickly took an offense to, my father.

"Good you are here." He said with perfect balance. "Prep Unit 01 for launch."

Upon him saying that I look around the room and noticed a giant abomination of purple and green, not that I have anything against those colors but as my gut instinct always went with Black and White as a color scheme, I mean, my psyche's didn't allow for much choosing, between the unhindered psycho who in my head told me to kill everything in this room and the Taoist monk preaching 'don't let it get to you, you should just go with the flow' everything seemed in place. I could usually find a peace in being between these two personalities, most of the time ignoring them, or being too busy to really notice them. Then again I was usually outside in nature. Freedom had a way about shutting off the voices in my head, but today seemed so different ~

"Shinji are you listening? Get in the Eva." My father ordering me about.

"FUCK YOU." I responded on instinct, yep, that felt right, not knowing what he was talking about, going with what I had wanted to say since he had left me.

"Shinji!" Misato gasped.

"Yeah sorry bout that, but that catches up on all the business I had here. Can someone please take me back now?" I asked aloud and in sickeningly sweet voice.

"Shinji, we really need to you pilot the Eva." She said, fear evident in her eyes.

"Gonna guess that is the massive purple monster mech? Yeah, no. Not just no, but hell no. I have no idea how the thing works. Not to mention, have no prior training in the thing. Plus, I have no reason to even care about it. As far as I am concerned, helping him (I pointed toward my father) is not exactly something I feel like doing." I said, finishing my speech.

"The Third Child is useless, bring out the first, she will be more useful than this one ever will." He seemed to be playing his hand, as a girl as pale as a ghost, the one I had seen on the street, but with many more wounds, was wheeled out on a stretcher.

Another explosion shook the base, she began to fall, and I bolted toward her, this girl was in pain, and as I figured it, my father probably caused it. After picking her up another explosion shook the place. The beam above us began to fall and before I could curse my father for endangering another soul when we were saved by the purple mech. Its arm reached out and blocked the beam above us, saving us momentarily. I sat her on the stretcher. She was sound asleep, I figured she passed out because of the excitement, or the massive amount of pain she was in.

"God damn it. I'll do it." I couldn't let him send out this girl to die. I knew that is exactly what he was planning to do too. I found my voice carrying more resentment than I usually allowed. Though he didn't seem to notice.

"Good" he said as he threw a suit at me, latex looking, but at least it was black.

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I headed into the changing room that I was shown too, and quickly discarded my clothing for this suit. After I had it on I went up to where I was directed the placed inside a tube. 'God I wish I just killed everything when I walked in here' I mused to myself. 'Then I wouldn't be in this stupid situation. I might even be halfway home by now.' I thought. The liquid began pouring in, slowly but surely, an orange liquid started to flow all around me, noticing it's scent, I began to fall into a trance, I was drowning in blood, I dreamed of going this way, just not in the most literal sense.

"Don't worry, it hyperoxyginated, just breath as you normally would." A female voice started to say over the intercom. Slowly I began to breath it in and out, feeling the liquid flowing in and out of my lungs. I felt as the tube was tilted then screwed into some sort of socket. I could not see, it was pitch black."We are going to power up unit one now, try not to do anything rash." Misato said over the intercom. "Cable attached, powering -" My mind was immediately assaulted by a force I could only guess was the "Evangelion."

"Kill" it repeated over and over again, my inner psycho started chiming in with it. "AGREED, ITS TIME TO KILL SHIT, oh someone else is in this beast with us, I wonder what would happen -" It was cut off by a scream that I could only guess was female as the beast yelled "PURGE, KILL, DEATH, FREEDOM?" Whoever was in the Eva with us was forcibly removed. I felt the soul being ripped straight out of the Eva, it was a good feeling of revenge but against who, I didn't know. Laughter filled the space then Psycho replied, "I think this is going to be fun, I pledge you that I will help you become free and destroy anything that gets in our way." Slowly the Eva made a decision, "YES."

"Unit 01, Launch" Misato yelled into the intercom. The Eva began to rise at breathtaking speed, going faster and faster till I was launched through the top of a roof that was barely open enough for the Eva to fit through. As I landed I noticed that before I got in this thing, I HAD NO CLUE HOW TO OPERATE THE DAMN THING. The angel had grabbed onto my head and then I was struck, again and again, I began feeling pain I should not have been ~

"Shinji, the Eva works through the controls in front of you along with your sync ratio. Your sync ratio is how balanced you are with your Eva and how much control you have over it." Then the voice was cut off as I was struck again, this time launched into a set of building.

Then I got pissed, "FUCK YOU, I AM GOING TO ENJOY RIPPING YOUR UH WHATEVER THAT THING IS OUT OF YOU" I shouted over the speakers and pointed at a large red crystal. How dare the angel (awful name for something that was attacking us, in no form was it "angelic") use me to destroy things, it took the fun from me doing it myself, lamenting over the chance I would never get again.

"He's lost it" the channel to Nerv headquarters began to scream, along with an order to withdraw me from the Eva, "Send the ejection codes."

"The Eva is rejecting the codes, and sent us a message back, it says... oh my.. um. It says "FUCK YOU." The people at Nerv began to worry.

With that, I closed the com channel and began to allow Psycho to take control, he was always much better at these situations, not to mention sense I had gotten into the beast he and it were hitting it off big time, plus I WAS LITTERALLY SUBMERGED IN A POOL OF BLOOD, suffice to say, it was rather easy. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU." I yelled as I charged the angel, it withstood the initial assault of me running into full speed, but not well enough to keep it from being dazed. Psycho(Me/I, I no longer know) took this split second to take the angel's mask and rip it off. Slowly whatever those things were that connected the mask to the angel began to rip and the angel started to shrieked in the pain.

I began to feel a bit euphoric, never in my life had I sensed so much pain and suffering. I realized long ago I was a sadist, though my gratification was not in the sexual kind, it just gave me a high I could not get doing anything else, though I reserved it only for people, and know these 'angels.' I would not hurt a living animal if I could avoid it, other than the minor slip ups when my body needed it, I even abstained from eating meat, unless I killed it or I particularly needed it. I had no want to make an animal suffer, but people, they DESERVED it, they NEEDED it. I felt alive when I saw suffering, no matter the cause. So, I lapsed into my high and began to follow my instinct from that point on.

Opening the Eva's mouth, feeling everything it was feeling, tasting the air on my/its (I could not honestly tell at this point, nor care) tongue, I began to feed, first I ripped the angel's arm off, then when it started to yell, I bit into its throat ripping and tearing my way, feeling the flesh in my mouth as I ate it. The angel stopped as if it went into shock, though I didn't know if it was possible, I found my animalistic high. When I was finally stuffed, I began ripping out the angel's core. The angel then wrapped itself around my Eva and exploded. I felt the liquid inside my plug pressurize against the blast. I was shaken into half-consciousness, then I was out. My last conscious thought was 'MORE.'

End: Chapter One


	2. Chapter 2: New Living Arrangements

Chapter 2, SSDD/Living arrangements.

Blah, Blah, Gainax owns everything, NGE included, blah, I don't, blah.

'Well, FUCK' I thought to myself when I woke up. I was on a hospital bed, no idea where or when, didn't really care either other than the extreme pain in my arm caused by an IV -Wait, what the hell is an IV doing in my arm? I immediately tore it off and looked around. My clothes were in a chair close by and I quickly threw off the gown, changing into my real clothes. White shirt, black pants, black boots. I began to return to normality.

Soon as that was done I headed out until a really cheeky nurse started freaking out when she checked my ex-room, then I bolted down the hallway. I didn't get very far when I saw the ghost girl sitting up in her bed staring at me. She was in full hospital dress. A cast over one arm and a bandage over her eye. She didn't look to be in pain, but I didn't think it would hurt to ask if she needed anything. That, and she probably knew the way out of here much better than I did.

"Sup?" I said as I walked into the whitewashed room. The only color in it was this girl's blue hair and wonderfully red eyes.

"Sup? What does that expression mean?" she replied collectedly.

"You don't get out much do you? Oh well, Sup is a short way of saying What's up or Hello, or any other greeting, it is also used for asking what do you need." I explained.

"Noted," was the only thing the blue haired girl said.

'This is getting nowhere fast' I thought to myself. "My name is Ikari Shinji, it's nice to meet you." The injured girl began to introduce herself (after much prodding) when alarms began going off, I guessed that was my fault.

"My name is Ayanami Rei." she finally got out.

"Well, Rei," I started to ask with as much charm as I possibly could,"do you know how I could get out of this place?"

Rei replied much to my distaste, "I cannot allow you to do that. You are the designated pilot of Unit 01. You must stay here."

Suddenly the door was opened and a red faced Misato charged through it, she looked a little beyond pissed. That or worried. I was too busy trying to shut the door behind her. I really did not want to get found, especially if they were going to stick me into another room.

"THERE YOU ARE," she practically screamed. "Do you know what could happen if you were seen around here without an ID card? Hmm? They would shoot you and drag your body out of here into a mass grave then burn~" "Hello Rei" she said when noticed the frowning (I could not really tell because this girl expressed almost no emotion) girl.

"Hello Captain Katsuragi." Rei replied.

"I'll leave the both of you alone then." then started yelling down the halls that she has found me.

With that I finally turned back to Rei and said "Thank you."

"Why are you thanking me?" She asked.

I started to explain, "A. You got rid of her, B. You gave me reason to even stay in this hellhole they call the Geofront."

"I did?" She asked seemingly amused at the idea.

"Yeah, if not for my bastard of a father pulling that little stunt with you on the stretcher, I would have probably walked out." I said.

With this she slapped me not hard though, and with very great difficulty, "You will not speak of the Commander that way."

"What the fuck?" I sounded sour and I knew it, "The asshole leaves me right after my mother dies or maybe he killed her, then demands I man the fuck up, when he does finally decide to remember I am alive, HE GUILT TRIPS ME INTO SAVING HIS LIFE BY USING YOU AS A PAWN. You should probably be more pissed at him then me at this point."

"My life is replaceable." she looked down. She said it with no faltering in her voice, as if she truly believed that if she died, all that would happen is she would be replaced.

Getting a little angry with her I finally replied, "Look, as far as I am concerned, you could be an alien from outer space, but as long as I am here, you WILL be treated with a little more care. You will also learn to MAN the FUCK UP. People are not replaceable, I WILL not listen to any EMO BULLSHIT. When you finally decide to apologize, which you can feel free to do so, otherwise I am leaving."

She glared at me "I am sorry," she said with an anger that was a little more than unnerving but seeing as I have seen MUCH worse, I just passed it off.

"I am not stupid. I can see that the only reason you are saying that is because you want me to stay at the Geofront" I assumed.

Knowing she had been seen through, "I would like to continue this conversation at another time, but would you please leave my room." She said rather flatly.

"Sure, get some rest, I still expect an apology, when you figure out what you are supposed to be apologizing for that is." I halfway joked.

As I was leaving I swear I heard a whisper of "thank you." Though I decided to leave it alone. Misato was waiting right outside, noticeably pissed

"Sorry Lover boy but we have got to leave." She said.

"Um, no offense but WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST CALL ME?" I nearly lost it there, "LOOK AT THIS SHIT! THIS GIRL IS BROKEN, BRAINWASHED, AND NONE, I REPEAT N-O-N-E, OF YOU PEOPLE SEEM TO GIVE A SHIT! SHE IS A HUMAN BEING, JUST LIKE YOU AND ME! YET YOU USE HER UNTIL SHE IS BROKEN? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?" Finally starting to calm down at a noticeably frightened Misato, "Look, all I want is some peace and quiet ('and some shit to kill but that will come later I said in my head') and someone to help her, you all seem to avoid this room like it is a plague."

Misato began to apologize, "Wow, I have never even thought, I am sorry."

"I am too. I lost my temper, and I know better than to do that." Letting the monk, that for some reason stayed in my skull, take over, "sometimes it takes an outsider to show people what they are doing wrong, I just wish that I had not caused this much of scene about it."

With that, Misato began to say, "Well at least you got everyone around to think about their actions. I mean, with the only person who visiting her being Gend~"

I cut her off, "I would much prefer you refrained from using that man's name in front of me."

"Sore spot I suppose?" she asked.

"You could say that." I replied.

As we continued our conversation she finally began to pick back up and went haywire. She became really preppy in a moments notice, "Oh by the way, here is your ID card," as she handed it to me, "Notice anything about the address on it?" she asked.

"Er... No..." I replied.

She immediately seemed to slow down a sec, "OH that's right, I haven't told you yet, You will be living with me! It's going to be so much f"~

"HOLD IT" I started, "Look no offense but uh, A. I DO NOT KNOW YOU, don't you think it is a little odd to have a 14 year old boy staying with a 20 something year old female? B. Who said I was staying?" I asked. We had just turned into the hallway that had the elevator in it.

"The Commander demanded that you stay and seeing as he is technically in charge of you, you will be doing as you are told, got it?" she replied.

Growling, and probably pouting, I replied "Yes Ma'am."

She immediately switched back to being expressidly preppy, "Oh don't give me that face, You'll be starting school next week too" She said excitedly, "Crap that means you will need more clothes." and then I tuned out her crazy babbling.

When we approached the elevator, it's door opened and my father was standing right in front of me. In his full suited up glory, including a pair of gloves and reflective shades. What a dick. For several seconds we stood, not moving out of the way for the other, not exchanging any words either. Just waiting for the other to show submission. He finally relented to pressing another button while staring me down. The doors closed and the glowing number kept going down until it stopped.

"Shinji, you might want to stop growling like an animal." Misato said in all seriousness.

"Huh? What?" I asked forgetting the tension of a few seconds ago.

"You realize that you just growled at your father right?" She asked.

"Bastard deserves much worse than that." I commented going back into my own thoughts. She dragged me into the elevator that rang on our floor. She pressed a button and we started going up. The glass window showed the distance between the bottom part of the Geofront and the the top part. NERV headquarters was much lower than I expected. The cavern looked nearly two to three miles deep. The bright orange color in the darkness was the only thing that separated the floor from the ceiling. I then noticed Misato was talking.

Shutting her out I just continued to keep gazing outward while repeating my all time regular mantra in my head: Kill, Maim, Kill, Burn, Maim, Kill, Eat, Rip, Tear, etc, etc. Finally stopping she handed me a check "This is your pay check, it is a month at a time, part of it is cut to go into an account for when you become an adult." Noticing the figure on the check I began to think, this might actually be enjoyable, now if only I could get things to follow suit.

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When we finally left the Geofront, she drove straight past the apartments she pointed out as being "Your new home." I kept looking across the woods that surrounded the area. No matter what, I had a deep feeling that they would be more like a home to me then Misato's apartment ever would.

She then spoke up again, and turned to me, "First we are going somewhere a little more fun." When she finally stopped the car (and her mouth for a minute) she told me to step out and watch. What I saw was, to be honest, amazing, I watched as the city started to form from the ground. Building by building started rising out of the ground. I watched as red lights started to flash around, notifying all that the safety bunkers were coming back up. The city slowly started to light up as people returned the city to life.

"So that's how the city manages all the destruction." I said.

"YEP" was her only reply as she cracked open a cold one.

After about half an hour she guided me to the car, and then she drove to "my new home."

"Shinji, what's wrong?" She asked when I stopped at the door.

"Its just the fact that I am not used to this." I answered honestly. I was not used to having someone else live with me, not only that, but someone in charge of me, it seemed so different to everything that my life had been up until now.

"Well, this is your home now. You are going to have to get used to it!" Misato said with a large grin and a chuckle then pushed me in.

When I stepped inside the first thing I noticed was the scent of stale beer, then the mess, finally thinking 'O' Ye' gods, look and despair!' Looking around for any reprieve I notice a penguin.

"Sup?"

"Wark."

"Oh that's Pen Pen, don't worry about him." She tossed him a beer from a bag. "You want one?" she asked holding it in front of me, offering, the label proudly declaring it was YEBISU. The penguin kept trying to open the beer but failed. Finally I just took it from him and opened it then gave it back. He warked in thanks.

"I am underage to be drinking shite beer." I replied, like hell I was going to be drinking swill.

Noticing the shite comment she began to say "Oh Mr. Lover boy knows a better beer then?"

"Actually, no not a better beer, however I would love some Fireball Whiskey and some apple juice." I replied with my most honest voice. "Or Rum and a few Dr. Peppers. I don't care which. Hell I would take the rum on its own."

"Oh, a hard drinker is he now? This WILL be fun." I immediately became uncomfortable at that comment. I will admit, I had never slept with a girl, nor did I want to at this particular time, I had too much shit on my plate to even think about the idea of a relationship, much less actively pursue one. "Lighten up, I am just kidding" She said, noticing the blank look on my face.

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Dinner was nothing but a bunch of instant foods, not any of them particularly edible. "Why aren't you eating?" She asked.

"Sorry, I am just not used to it." I replied.

"ARE YOU FINIKY?" She yelled and leaned directly over the table, providing a great view of her cleavage.

"Not exactly what I meant." I was trying to keep my eyes from wandering down. It didn't help that all she war wearing was a small pair of shorts and a yellow tank top that showed off a very unmodest amount of cleavage.

"Isn't this nice!" She said smiling, once again going to her cheerful side. After she was done giving a slightly large speech she added. "This is your home now. Feel free to take advantage of everything here. Except of course, me, that is." She said, winking.

"Er... Yes ma'am?" I said.

"Was that a question?" She asked.

"No... I don't think I honestly would want to take advantage of you." I said.

"WHAT?" She screamed, "DON'T YOU THINK I AM HOT?" She asked.

"That really wouldn't matter much. My moral compass pretty much dictates on things I can do, and can't do. Forgive the double entendre, but Misato, you are something I cannot do." I said waving my hands and smiling, as if to dismiss the issue.

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She seemed to drop the issue after that and finally passed out in her room, I decided on CLEANING THIS PLACE. IT WAS NOT LIVABLE. I honestly could not stand the smell, or anything else for that matter. Some might call trophies a waste or disgusting but this was just awful. I filled many bags with rotten instant food. I didn't even know if instant food could rot. I poured out stale beer and started bagging the cans. After that was all said and done I found a plastic box and wrote CANS on the side of it. I finally finished about 2 in the morning and found my "room." I was asleep as soon as I hit the pillow.

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"Shinji, wake up!" Misato came into my room and started poking me. "Come on Shinji, we have stuff to do today!" She kept poking me.

Slowly I opened my eyes and beheld a Misato with nothing but a towel on. I instantly went against the wall and probably turned white. "DO YOU HAVE NO SHAME?" I asked.

"About what?" She asked smiling, then noticed her "dress." "Oh this, don't worry about it. I need to wait until laundry is done. You also need to get ready, we have stuff we have to do today." She then left my room and I noticed two important things. One, it was eleven a.m. Two, I was still dressed and had a biological reaction that she probably saw.

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During the day, I learned a lot more about Misato, NERV, and everything in general. We went "clothes shopping" for me. I picked out a package of 10 and 10 White and Black T- shirts, some unmentionables, black socks, 10 pairs of black denim jeans, a few white collared dress shirts, some black ones too.

She finally broke in "Don't you think you need a little more color? All you have got is black and white."

I slowly thought up an answer. "Just as loud noises distract the ear, and potent smells destroy the nose, too many colors kill the eye, besides, I like black and white, they seem perfect together not to mention, favorite colors. That is unless I go hunting. Then I might get me some tan colored clothing, and maybe a pelt cape. I wonder what kind of wildlife they have around here. You know what? I'll just pick up some nature colors too, just in case. Black and white are great, but it WOULD feel nice to be outside, or at least remind myself of the outdoors if I am going to be stuck inside."

She then mused, "How would you like if Unit 01 got a new black and white coating of paint? I am think Black base, white chest, head, and hands."

I immediately perked up, "That would be much better than that Purple and green mesh.

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As we were leaving I saw a black leather jacket, in a second hand shop window. One of the sleeves was missing a snap but I could fix that later, for now, I just wanted it. I walked in and purchased the jacket. It was a size or two too big but I figured I would grow. I found a small dog tag chain that I looped through the broken snap and snap hook and closed it.

The rest of the day was exploring Tokyo-3, or as Misato kept saying, the city I helped save. I was still not too happy with the idea of staying here. I didn't know the sky, the smells, or anyone around here save Misato, and it didn't help that in knowing that I was staying, I would have to pilot the Eva again, which meant doing another favor for the bastard I called my father. We ate lunch at a rather small Chinese place, which I thought was weird. Chinese food in Japan.

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We got home late that night. After we made a chore list, I got most of the chores except doing Misato's laundry. I made dinner with a few of the things we picked up while she set some ground rules (some of which I immediately started to ignore.) A. No drinking on school nights, broken, as I had taken a shot to get rid of my headache. B. No staying up past 12 on school nights. It was currently around 11 p.m. And dinner had not been cooked. C. No loud noises until 8 a.m. List went on but I wasn't paying attention. When she was finished I went and washed all of my new clothing and took a shower. It was nice to finally have the time after I got out of that damned hospital.

That night when I was going to bed Misato took it upon herself to actually make sure I was okay with how things turned out. "Oh and by the way, Good luck with school tomorrow, and it was a brave thing you did in the Eva, Shinji." With that I hit a bump in the road. I had never had anyone actually care about what I did much less try to show affection. Not knowing how to handle it I nearly broke down, the only thing holding it back was the psycho in my head screaming "HOW DARE SHE, HOW DARE SHE TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND ME, SHE DOES NOT KNOW WHAT IT HAS BEEN LIKE." I thanked her then just grew silent. She left my room 3 minutes later out of the awkward silence.

That night, I wanted to cry myself to sleep, only holding on to my sheer anger at my current situation did my heart finally go back to normal and I fell into a deep sleep.

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"GRAH! DIE DAMNIT DIE!" I kept ripping into the angel, again and again. I was dreaming about the last battle. After the angel had exploded, my Eva's helm had fallen off. There was a giant hole where one of the eyes should have been. "FUCK YOU! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!" I kept yelling, while trying to beat on the side of my plug, as if to kill my Eva. They eye regrew as I was watching it. The coms were still off, but I didn't notice. The pressure in the plug rose. I remembered thinking again and again "MORE."

End Chapter 2

TEAR THE FLESH, SALT THE WOUND HAHAHAHAHAHAHA


	3. Chapter 3: New Friends, and Intrests

Chapter 3: First Week and a Half

Disclaimer: I don't own NGE.

"What is wrong with you people?" I asked the man in the black suit again, he was about six foot tall, large of body, muscle, not fat. Ever since I woke up today I had been followed from the house, all the way into this alley. I had planned on escaping my way out of here, and into the woods until I could find a place to live that was no where near Tokyo-3. This place sucked, the air was unbreathable, pollution was at an all time high. I could barely think straight with all of the noise and cars everywhere. I've only been here three days, and one of those was spent in a hospital asleep.

"We have been ordered to keep tabs on you at all times. It is not safe to allow you free reign outside the Geofront." The suited man said.

"You know, I am really getting tired of all the guys in suits that have been in my life recently. Every one of them seems to be a prick." I said, then started listing them off, starting with my father. When I finished with that, "And that concludes the list of all the suited pricks I have met within the last month. Do you want to know what my next list is?" I asked, trying to get him to go away.

"Look kid, I like this job as much as I like you, and I don't like you, kapeesh?" He replied before I could start my next list. "I am about fed up with this bullshit. Either you start walking to school, or we will "escort" you there, got it?" He suddenly took on a much more serious tone.

"See, now was that so hard?" I asked in a sweet voice. "Could have just said that, and you would have gotten a much better result." I said then walked past him without even glancing back.

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There weren't many attractions to look at on my way to school. It was a thirty minute walk, so I kept myself entertained by the number of people I spotted with one item or another. It was fun enough to keep me distracted til I got to the front gate. "Little uh... large don't you agree?" I asked the suited man, who was still following me.

"You have five minutes to get to class. I would suggest you hurry it up. We will be watching the building the whole day, so don't get any funny ideas. One of us will be waiting to escort you home." He said, then went silent.

I pushed open the gates and sighed. "This is going to be a long day, isn't it?" I asked myself. Quickly going to the office I finished the enrollment process, got a student ID, and was given a small map along with my schedule, which was, stay in this room all day, then go home.

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After entering three wrong classrooms, I finally found the right one. It is not my fault that these rooms all looked the same. "Er... Sup Teach? Looks like I'll be joining this class." I said to the old man standing at the board. I then handed him all my new information, which he didn't care for the map or my ID.

"You will be keeping these." He said in a rather annoyed voice, while handing me back the ID and Map, along with the schedule.

"Whatever." I said, turning away from the old man.

"You will call the teacher Sensei, and you will show proper respect to him at all times!" A girl yelled at me, from behind. Looking behind me I saw a smallish girl, about my height, maybe an inch or two shorter. She had pigtails neatly set into her hair, her uniform precise to the last detail. She was rather cute, but I could tell from here that she and I would never last. She was WAY to into perfection and order.

"And you might be?" I asked to the girl.

"My name is Horaki Hikari, and I am the Class Representative." She answered, without missing a single beat. "You are the new student, correct?" She asked back.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." I said. Still looking into the details about her. She had a few freckles, and was dressed very appropriately for school. She was probably a goody two shoes as well.

"Sounds about right? What?" She asked, not understanding.

I quickly leaned towards her and in a whispered voice, "Look, I want to make this clear now, I don't bother you, you don't bother me. If you are the Class Rep, you might want to tell that to the other students too." I said, watching her face change to a scowl.

"You don't scare me." She said then pushed me to the front of the room. "Introduce yourself, then sit at that desk right there." She said pointing at one near the window, two seats from the back. 'Least I get to look out the window' I thought morosely to myself.

"Hello, my name is Ikari Shinji .'The Guy who is going to kill all of you.' I am here to help my father at his business." 'kill the bastard in his sleep and feast on his entrails.' I then looked at the Class Rep to see if she was satisfied, noticing that she just huffed I went down to the seat she pointed at and sat down.

"RISE BOW SIT!" She said in order, with everyone performing on her queue. She then walked over to her desk and sat down.

No one was stupid enough to try to talk to me. I would have probably tried to explain how I was going to give them a "improv tracheotomy" if they had.

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When lunch came around the class rep however did come over to my desk. "My duties require me to tell you that the cafeteria is downstairs, I am also supposed to show you where it is." She said.

"Look, I really don't think we got off on the right foot." I said, then continued, "Hello, my name is Ikari Shinji, I am being held here against my will, and if I get the chance, will be leaving as soon as possible. I am sorry if I caused you any grief or harm. If you want, you can skip any duties that are required at my expense." Trying my hardest to keep a straight tone and face, and look genuinely sorry was hard, but I thought I did a rather good job.

"What do you mean, "against your will?" She asked in a hushed tone, leaning over my desk, giving me quite the view of her undergarments. I was trying my hardest not to look down to where her undershirt dipped.

Quickly turning to the window I saw two men in suits near the gate, and used it to my advantage. "See them?" I said pointing at the guards. "They are preventing me from leaving here. I am pretty much a POW right now." I dropped my finger.

"Why are you here then?" She asked, still bent over.

"Look, before I say anything else, would you please stop leaning over on my desk. It is rather uncomfortable to see you in such a position if you know what I mean." I said to her, watching her face turn red.

"S-S-Soorrryyy." She said, not able to get it out of her head. She was rather ashamed of herself for not noticing.

"Look, its no problem, just forget it." I said with a smile and a wave of my hand. "But would you please just skip anything that has your duties that involves me?" I asked nicely.

"Yes!" She almost shouted, still embarrassed.

When she finally moved away I sighed in relief. "And another win for me." I said under my breath. Then I went back to staring out the window.

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Lunch ended not to long after that. After another three hours of listening to Mr. Meteor destroyed everything we held dear talk about his FAVORITE subject, the school bell rang.

Going home was much easier than walking to school. The agents didn't walk right behind me but tailed me in a car. Misato had said that she wouldn't be home for a while after I got out and that I should go exploring, so I thought to take her up on her offer. Seeing a coffee shop in the distance I decided to try it out.

It was rather cold inside, but the smell of fresh coffee and beans permeated throughout the shop. An agent had followed me in to the shop so I thought I might as well make the best of it, and ordered two cups of coffee. One straight black (I like the bitter taste) for me, the other some form of cappuccino. The girl at the counter looked at me rather strange when I asked her if she took debit cards, which they did, but seeing it in the hands of a fourteen year old seems to raise questions.

Walking up to the agent who had been following me all day, I greeted him. "Sup."

"You are supposed to be heading back you the apartment complex." He said without flinching. I then pushed the Styrofoam cup of cappuccino in his hands.

"Look. I seem stuck with you, and you are stuck with me for the time being. So I'll let you in on a little secret. Misato told me to explore the area while she wasn't home, and she said she wouldn't be getting home for a while." I said to the man. I finally realized that he was of an Italian heritage. "Which means, I am going to sit down and drink my coffee. Do you perhaps feel like joining me? You could probably make sure I don't escape if you kept your eye on me from the table." I finished and pulled out my chair and sat down.

It didn't take long for the man to make up his mind. He joined me at the table I sat down at. "Thank you for the coffee." He said curtly.

"You're welcome." I said back. It didn't take long until we started talking. He was ex-military, a scout. He didn't like having to deal with his orders sometimes, but did so anyway, and from what he figured, I was just a pain in the ass, to which, I mostly agreed with that assessment.

"Yeah, Sorry about your orders and everything. I just don't like people around me, watching me, at all times." I replied, which he seemed to calm down a little.

"I can understand why. Men in black suits following you around all day is somewhat of a intimidating idea, especially compounded with the fact that your own father put them on you." He said, stirring his coffee again with the tiny straw they threw in the cup.

"He may be my biological father, but that man is not an actual father by a long shot. He wouldn't care if I just up and disappeared unless he wanted to use me for something, ala, piloting those machines of death." I said back, rather aggravated at the aspect of having to talk about that horrible excuse for a caregiver. The suited man leaned back, and sighed. He seemed to have something he wanted to say but couldn't.

"Ikari, don't take this the wrong way, but I am not allowed to tell you my name, you can probably figure why, but I will explain to you that this conversation is being tapped and monitored." He said, then took the last chug of his coffee. "And you need to be getting home soon, Misato's shift ended fifteen minutes ago." He said with a smile.

We proceeded to the door when I bumped into the class rep. She turned pale upon seeing the Italian who immediately shoved his hand into his coat pocket. "Oh, Sorry Class Rep." I said, trying to diffuse the tension.

"Hi... Ikari... What are you doing here?" She said in almost a whisper, still looking at the mobish looking fellow.

"Came to get some coffee. Had some free time after class, so I decided to spend it here. What about you?" I asked, honestly worried why the agent hadn't pulled his hand out of his pocket.

"HI HIKARI!" A voice from behind the counter shouted. "Why are you on the ground?" I looked back and saw what appeared to be an older looking Hikari, with straight hair. She was a good bit taller, and had filled out much more that I expected an adult Hikari to. She had a perpetual smile stuck on her face, and her mannerisms gave away that she was a very caring and happy go lucky type of person.

"Sorry!" Hikari stood upright upon seeing her sister, as if the prospect frightened her. "Mr. Ikari, meet my sister, Kodama." She pointed to her sister behind the counter.

"She makes good coffee." I said, pointing out what probably was an obvious fact. "Hello Horaki Kodama, nice to officially meet you." I said, waving my hand and smiling.

"Mr. Ikari, we need to leave." The Italian said, not wanting to waste anymore time. He relaxed his grip from inside his coat and pulled his hand out.

"Er... Right... Sorry again Horaki..." I said, then followed him out the door.

"So, Hikari, want to explain what that was all about?" I could hear Kodama in the background, questioning her sister.

"So... Why did you almost pull out a gun on a minor?" I asked him as he led me to the apartments, watching the trees starting to recede into a more suburban area once again.

"It was not a gun. I have orders to make sure you are safe at all times. NERV has many enemies. I didn't know if she was going to try to injure you or not." He said in an honest tone.

"Thank you?" I said, though it sounded more like a question. "But, I really don't think I need this much protection. I mean, I know when to avoid situations that could result in problems for me." I said.

"That's good and well, but orders are orders, as I have already explained to you." He said in what looked like a shrug.

"Yep, got it." I said, then saw the apartments. "Looks like your orders just ran out though, cause that is where I live." I said pointing at the apartments.

"We will be watching." He said in a rather ominous tone. "And thanks again for the coffee." Immediately breaking the ominousity of before.

"No problem." I answered back, then headed up to my new "home."

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"Hi Misato, I am home!" I yelled into the bleak apartment. It looked as if she hadn't gotten home yet, but from the smell of instant food cooking, I knew she had.

"Hi Shinji. How was your first day of school? Meet any cute girls?" She said in a teasing voice from the kitchen.

"To the first question I will say, I need to lose the mobsters who follow me around everywhere. They are starting to scare other students. To the second question, Wouldn't you like to know." I said, snarking my way back at the woman.

"That's no fun." She said, dipping a few octaves lower. "You could of at least answered that question honestly." She said.

Walking into the kitchen I noticed a large mess brewing upon the stove, the sink was already full, and most of the dishes were already out and used. "Er... Misato, we need to have a talk about kitchen duties. How about I have all of them, and you stay out of the kitchen? OH MY GODS IS THAT MOVING?" I said looking into the pot of whatever she was cooking. I swear I saw something swimming in the pot.

"But it wouldn't be fair to let you do everything." She said with a small pout. She was wearing her usual home attire, along with an apron.

"I insist!" I said still observing the horrendous brew of death she had made on the stove. It looked to be some sort of curry, but several things were off, one major thing was it was blue. "Misato, I don't think whatever that is, is a good thing." I said still watching her stir the soup.

"I decided to use on of the recipes I found in a cookbook. I don't think it turned out just as planned." She said, then took a small spoon and tasted her concoction. She immediately turned green and lurched into the trashcan. "I... think... We... Should... Order... out..." She was having trouble keeping from lurching again.

"Gladly, and I'll pay." I said pouring out that monstrosity of a dish. 'MY GOD, IT ATE THROUGH THE DAMN POT' my mind screamed at me. She was still face first into the trash can. I quickly disposed of the CAST IRON pot by throwing it into a cabinet. I didn't want her to see how badly damaged it had become. All the while I kept thinking 'WHAT THE FUCK CAN YOU COOK THAT EATS THROUGH CAST IRON?!'

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Dinner that night was filled with questions which I tried my hardest to avoid, mostly about the opposite sex and my interactions with them. Misato then started teasing me and throwing jabs at my ego. "I don't have to explain myself to the likes of you." I said in a calm tone, as if to get my point across.

"You're a little high stung." She said with a smirk, then took a bite of whatever it was she was eating.

"Whatever." I said, then started doing the dishes. It took me a while to finish the dishes that she had created. When they were done however I announced that I would be taking a shower.

Laying down was still not normal. I was so used to sleeping outside at this point I kind of missed it. I decided to open up a window. That made the area feel a little more like home. "God I hope the next few weeks aren't like this." I said, laying back down.

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Not many things did change though. The agents however stopped following me once the second week started. I did miss the mobster that followed me around though. After a few stops with him it was rather funny to see how he reacted to certain situations.

The school was rather large for what I was used too. Actually, I wasn't used to going to school, I mean, I lived with my teacher (who was barely alive). I was in a total class of one, which suffice to say, I liked better than being stuck with some of the people that were here. It was a three story building. Around the building were several areas, including a library, a pool, a field, and the art building, which thankfully, I didn't have to go anywhere near. I suck at art.

The school day started out as normal. Horaki did her little morning ritual, then we all sat down. I got my computer out to appease the teacher, more so that I would not have to listen to him try to chew me out again. These computers sucked, bad. I had gotten used to writing down notes by hand. When I did sit down I noticed a small surprise, looking into the reflection of my off computer I noticed a pair of red eyes in the background. "Oh shit. I mean oh crap, I mean, oh whatever, screw it." I had not seen her since the hospital, and didn't figure that she would be present at this school, and she was staring right at me. It was good to see that she was out of the hospital though.

"Mr. Ikari, that is enough. You need to go over the school rules. No swearing." I was two seats away from a certain pair of red eyes that were hooked on to a pale body with blue hair, she was staring intently outside, but at nothing at all. I began to wonder what she had done between the time we had together, but I knew better than to push that idea. Or even let myself think of it.

A boy in a track suit then slammed into the room. "Sorry I am late sensei, I just got done visiting my sister in the hospital, our house was crushed by the purple monster mecha thing." He was taller than me by a good few inches. He held himself in a way that said "dull as a rock" though.

"Toji, you are excused, please go find your seat." is all the teach said. The boy named Toji then looked at me as I was flipping him off under the desk, he had insulted me without even thinking twice about it.

"Students, today we will be talking about some of the ramifications of the 2nd Impact" and then he lost my attention to the computer screen.

A message popped up in class chat, sent from Toji S. "Are you the new pilot?" I decided to open up a can of brutal honesty, much to the chargen of some of my class mates from what I could tell. "Yeah I am, and it's not my fault your house happened to be in my way, not to mention, I was probably THROWN into the damn thing to begin with." Over the next few seconds there was loud whispers went all over the classroom, then the student rep yelled, "QUIET!" Then another message flashed over the chatbox, "Soon as lunch hits, I'm gonna kill you." My reply didn't help matters much I suppose, "Bring it." I looked over to him, noticing he had a smirk on his face, I couldn't help but start one of my own. I then checked back at my screen and saw Rei's eyes focusing intently on my computer, or at least my back.

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With that the next few hours passed quickly as I thought up the funnest way to torture this poor deluded boy. It was going to be so fun to make someone who was so sure of himself learn a thing or two about humility, I had been bested before, and learned my lesson. When the bell finally rang I stayed behind with Toji for a few minutes until everyone but a boy named Kensuke (A scrawny kid who never put down his video camera or his toy gunships), Toji, and me were left. I then spoke out "You sure you want to do this?" laughing the whole time.

This obviously unnerved the boy, who then replied, "Kensuke showed me the fight, you were thrown into my house, but I have to keep appearances up. So yup, I am still going to fuck your shit up."

Still laughing I replied, "Shall we go outside then?" This WAS going to be a fun day.

Him and Kensuke walked out first, slowly preparing for this event. To me everything was going too goddamn slow, it had been a month or so since my last brawl, I was ready for it, I NEEDED the high I got from it.

He then spoke up, "Sorry New kid, but I got to do this at least for my sister." He then threw the first punch and like that, my instincts immediately took hold. I sidestepped and his fist hit the poll I was leaning on. "FUCK" he screamed as he pulled his fist back. I didn't even give him a chance to try again. I sunk my foot right into where his knee connected to his shin, and with that he kneeled down.

"PERFECT" I noticed myself yelling, "TIME FOR A PHOTO FINISH." I pulled back his head via his hair, I slowly drew my fist back aiming straight for his nose. I wanted to give him something that would mark this loss foreve~

"Pilot Ikari, we need to speak." as my hand was pulled behind my back and held with the practice of a police officer.

"Whats up Rei." I said grimly, I knew that voice, and I wasn't too happy about not being allowed to have my own fun.

Toji then passed out on the ground and I told Kensuke, "If you don't want to end up like him, I suggest you help him, sorry I had to do that, please take him to the nurse." as I was pulled away by Rei.

She guided me into the school building and up to the roof. The view was amazing. You could see a large part of the woods from behind, and a large part of of the school. "God I wonder what some of the guys would do if they knew the pool could be seen from here?" I asked aloud.

Rei decided to speak up, "Pilot Ikari, you must refrain from performing any actions that reflect badly on NERV. You are employed therefore are a representative of NERV." She was wearing the standard school uniform. Her hair was cropped short. One of her eyes was still covered with the bandage, and her arm was casted. She had a light shade of blue for her hair and her skin was white, had a pearly tint. She looked rather good, a bit too thin, but she never seemed to smile.

"You know, you should smile more. It helps. If nothing else it might make you feel better yourself." Then I realized what I was saying. "Er... Sorry... Back on subject... Look, as far as I care, the guy had it coming, I mean we made our peace before the fight, I just wanted something to do." I said.

"You will follow the rules." Said Rei matter of factually, still no facial expressions other than her perpetual frown. "Also I am sorry." she added quickly after that in a whisper.

"Um what?" I was dumbstruck. It was an actual apology, I was not expecting her to bring me up here just to apologize, hell, I was not expecting anything when she brought me up here~

"I spent time trying to figure out what you meant in the hospital, you were trying to help me. I have never been offered any, I think the term is emotional, support in my life, therefore I thought it was right to apologize." Rei said, looking confused on her choice of words.

"I um, I" 'dammit, at a loss of words here need to think of something quick' I thought. "So, you thought about what I had said?" was all I could say, I was at a lose of words. Not to mention she had started taking up more and more of my attention. "Ayanami right? Are you alright? Your injuries look like they are painful."

"Yes." She then looked away from me. With that the school bell rang and we went back into class, silently standing right beside each other till she walked into the room.

"Ikari Shinji," the teacher started to speak, "You are wanted in the Principle's office." The Hikari guided me to the Principle's office. She was talking about how she was so sorry that Toji caused this.

"I admire Toji" caused her to immediately stop and look back at me.

"What?" was all she managed. She looked rather shocked.

"I admire Toji" I repeated then went on, "He kept to his word even though he knew the truth, he might be a bit misguided, but he kept his word. I admire guys like him. He was brave, he did what he was said, and he got his ass kicked, but at least the man is honest, he kept his integrity and honor."

Her jaw dropped. "I um, the office is right ahead to the left, I got to go." She said as she left, blushing a new shade of red that I thought was impossible.

When I got into the office Toji was sitting on the bench to my right and I was told to sit. He began to speak, "I know I asked for that."

I interrupted him, "Toji, I would be honored to call you a friend, you kept your word knowing the chances of what was going to happen. That spells out bravery." He offered his hand and we shook. Then spent the next half hour cracking up as the principle called Misato and Toji's father.

"Your parents will be here momentarily." "You will stay here until they get here." The principle said. His toupe slightly shifted giving us a large view of his bald spot.

Over the time Toji and I recounted tales of various fights, losses, women, fun, to each other. It felt good to finally have a friend that I could trust once again, I found it in this boy who decided to keep his word no matter the odds and stood his ground.

"Man, you should have seen the look on Kensuke's face when he heard what you said." he started to say, " It was absolutely hilarious. I swear I thought he would piss himself."

"Aren't you friend's with Kensuke though?" I asked, remembering the military nut. "Yeah but the dude can get on my nerves sometimes. You know he was taking bets on who was going to win?" Toji answered, then took a bite from the burger he got from the cafeteria.

"That IS funny, did he not have any faith in you?" I mused.

"Wouldn't matter, he is always tryi"~ His words stopped short as Misato and his dad entered the room.

Misato was the first to speak. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?" She screamed at me. She was not in her happy place.

"Ma'am it was my fault, I started the fight and Shinji won fair and square." Toji spoke up before I had the chance.

"Misato," I said, "Me and Toji were just having a bit of fun at lunch, you know, testing the new kid and stuff. I may have gone a little far but I was stopped, and the school may have taken it the wrong way."

Me and Toji swapped phone numbers in case either of us wanted to hang out before the principle came back with a decision.

"Seeing as neither one of them was seriously hurt, and we cannot figure out what exactly happened, I either have to punish both of them" to this we both gulped. "Or we can forget about it." We automatically chose the second.

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The rest of that day went slowly. I was introduced to Kensuke and most of the other guys in class. Most of them backed away after Kensuke collected and redistributed money keeping a large portion to himself. "That's enough to buy my new camera!" he exclaimed. I picked up a few things about the guy as we were sitting around bullshiting. Kensuke I noticed was all into the military, and into gambling, which I knew all to well that I could exploit in the near future.

Then it dawned on me he was asking me a question. "So, you and Rei huh?"

"Um what?" was my response.

"Are you and Rei in a relationship or something? I mean she did stop you from finishing it mortal kombat style." He said with a rather envious look in his eye, jealousy perhaps.

"Er, no, She also works at NERV, I don't know much more than that." I replied.

"SHE WORKS AT NERV?" he started yelling.

"Uh yeah, I think she is also a pilot, I don't know, I wasn't told anything, I was just thrown into the big Eva thing and told to fight." I added.

He nearly froze solid, "You were not given any formal training before you were sent out into the battlefield?"

"Notta, just figured it out after getting the shit beat out of me." I answered.

After the initial shock and awe of the first few min (like 15) Kensuke and Toji decided it might be time to head out. When I finally gathered my things I was stopped at the door.

"Um. Hi Shinji." was all the timid class rep said, but she did use my first name.

"Sup Horaki." I asked.

"Um Shinji, I wanted to thank you for looking out for Toji." She said, but she seemed to beat around the metaphorical bush.

I whispered into her ear, "I know you like him." trying to get a rise out of the girl. It apparently worked well because she started to freak out.

"WHAT, HOW, WHEN?" She started yelling vehemently.

"I wow, uh, you know, I was just trying to get a rise out of you to see how you would react." This was not as planned. Though it was funny.

"I have to go" she quickly left, running through the halls.

"Damn man, what did you do?" Toji asked, oblivious to the situation. I just started laughing.

"I honestly have no idea..." I replied without looking behind me.

"Hey man, we are going to check out the arcade, you want in?" Kensuke asked.

"Sorry but I can't, I have a feeling I am in a shit ton of trouble when I get home." I replied, thinking about Misato's reaction earlier that day.

"Yeah, but at least Misato is really good looking." Toji said, trying too hard to picture what was in his mind would be a very bad thing.

When I finally left I started to walk home when I noticed Rei just standing at the front gate.

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"Uh sup?" I asked.

"I noticed the class representative running from the school. Was it something you caused?" was the answer I got.

"Jealous?" was my question back.

"I do not know what I feel," then she took off.

"Hey wait up, isn't there something you wanted to say other than that as I walked behind her."

"No." Then she started to walk faster.

"Then why would you wait for me? That could have waited till tomorrow." I commented.

"I wanted to ask you a question. I have done that, now I shall head home." she said flatly.

I figured I wold try it at least once, "So, you want me to walk you home then?"

After another frown then being slapped, I decided to drop it when she disappeared. 'Damn she is fast' I thought, then walked home. I walked in the door, announced my arrival and started dinner when Misato finally got out of her room. She was blitzed, "Not even a month at schkul ~hiccup~ and you have already got ~hiccup~ into a fight." "You're grounded." was all I heard then she passed out. I was wondering if she always dressed this way or just because I was here dress at all. I mean between the shorts and the tank top that was a size to small I didn't understand.

"Either way" I muttered to myself, dragging her to the couch and placing her on it. "Damn she is heavy" I said aloud. "I do not have time for this, I quickly finished dinner, but she couldn't be roused from her sleep. "Fine" I said to myself, then ate, did the rest of my chores and sank into bed after a quick shower. "Today has been awesome, I finally feel at home for once in my life." After a few more moments I passed out wondering about Rei and her seeming inability to express emotion other than disappointment and confusion all while staying so stoic at the same time.

End Chapter 3

Have fun mates.


	4. Chapter 4: Second Battle

Chapter 4: Second Battle

Disclaimer: Gainax holds Copyright. I, however, do not.

"Aim THEN fire." I repeated the mantra Dr. Akagi had made me memorize. This whole morning had been dedicated to nothing but tests and practice my marksmanship. It mostly ended up with me beating the angel with prog knife or some kind of melee weapon. I sucked at shooting things, which is probably why I had this mantra memorized. She even made me answer where all the zones where for almost every item they had in all of Tokyo-3, which I was (unbeknownst to me) apparently supposed to be memorizing. She had also given me a rundown of how the Eva was powered by an umbilical cord, and the battery life span. In the latest test I was in a testing room that had a simulated environment. My Eva had been mostly repainted, all that was left was the helm. I again took aim of the angel's core and fired into the mock enemy.

"Good!" Misato said, noticing the score steadily rising.

The rest of that day followed the same suit. Dr. Akagi seemed to get more and more aggravated as the day went on, but I knew better than to ask why. Probably had something to do with me using the rifle as a shotgun at point blank range. When Misato and I finally got home I just sunk into bed and passed out.

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The next morning I made Misato and Pen Pen breakfast, and left a note. Misato hadn't wanted to wake up. Today she didn't have to be at NERV until late at night. She asked me if I would take out the trash, which I did as I departed.

Walking to school had become a much more routine affair than I wanted it to be. I didn't enjoy the prospect of heading to school, or what I would be doing there. Rei didn't seem to show up that often, and I almost envied her for that, then again, I figured it might have something to do with her injuries.

I was wrong that day about Rei showing up though. She did show up, much to my amazement. The teacher still went on about the Second Impact, continuing from what he was saying yesterday. I lazily ignored him and talked with Kensuke and Toji over the computer. By the time the lunch bell rang I was ready to go outside, that is, until Rei called me out.

"Did you need something?" I asked her.

"There is an emergency. I'll report in first." Rei said, then took off.

Before I could even get outside a black vehicle was outside, waiting at the gates. I got into the backseat. "Er... Is it okay just to leave like this, without telling anyone?" I asked the driver. He didn't say a word as we sped off toward the NERV base. Rei just kept looking out her window.

"What did you mean by emergency?" I tried asking Rei, to no avail. Then I heard the klaxons sounding off. "Oh... That kind of emergency." I said aloud. An angel was coming to try to kill us again. The rest of the drive was made in near silence, only watching people running in the streets. When we finally made it to NERV headquarters we were placed on a large escalator like machine. It pulled the car down toward the Geofront. We hit the bottom, and the driver got out of the car and Rei and I followed suit.

We were escorted out of the car and I was shown to the pilot changing room. I quickly dawned that damned latex suit. "I swear these things just cannot get more uncomfortable!" I said walking out of the room.

"Pilot Ikari, Can you hear me?" A small set of speakers on the wall spoke out, in Dr. Akagi's voice. "Follow the lights." She said as she illuminated a path of red lights toward the Eva tank. I quickly found myself inside the plug, and it filled again with LCL. My mind went blank at the scent of blood. Savage thoughts ate away at my mind.

"Unit 01, powering up!" A technician yelled. I lost all control for a second as my mind felt ripped from my body.

Looking up I saw nothing, and down the same. I was on a flat white plane, nothing in any direction. A second later I saw the Eva's head appear into view.

"FREEDOM!" I heard a loud booming voice crack out.

"And?" I asked, not amused at the prospect of talking to a giant head, though I did noticed that my Eva's new paint job was done. It looked much more natural in black and white than it did in those other colors.

"FIGHT!" The voice said.

The air around me seemed to flow with power. My head felt as if it were going to explode. Watching a man materialize from thin air, he greeted me.

"Sup?" He asked.

"I am going to guess that you are a figment of my psyche, probably the one I call Psycho." I said back to the man. He was half dressed. He had on a pair of boots and jeans, but no shirt. He was about five foot ten. I didn't want to press anything when I noticed his face was similar to mine, but in so many ways different. His scars going across it in every direction. From what I could see, the rest of his body was the same way.

"That's right. Now I wanted to talk. More specifically, about you." He said with a slasher grin.

"I don't have much time." I said to him, remembering what my current objective was.

"It doesn't matter. Time here and Time out there are two separate things." He said.

"Okay, then what do we need to talk about?" I asked.

"This beast wants its freedom, just like you and I. I want you to give her that freedom, in turn, she will lend us her power." He said.

"Way to make this sound like a deal with devil." I congratulated him, sarcastically.

"There isn't much difference at this point. Do you accept or not?" He said, still smiling.

"Yes." I said bluntly.

"Good..." He said. I was quickly flushed back into reality, or what I believed to be the true reality.

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"Shinji, did you get the plan?" Misato asked.

"Er... No... Please repeat it one more time." I said back, honestly not remembering anything about a plan.

"Unit 00 is currently undergoing repairs. We are going to send you up to defeat the angel." Misato said.

"Just neutralize the angel's AT-field and fire a volley with the pallet gun, just as we practiced." Dr. Akagi said.

"Got it." I said.

"UNIT 01 LAUNCH!" Misato yelled.

I was forced up with enough speed that when the brakes finally latched I almost slammed my head against top of the plug. A few seconds later I saw what was coming. The angel looked like a cross between a pink phallus and a bug. I covered my mouth to keep myself from busting out in laughter. It stood several meters taller than me, it's core prominently sitting in the middle of the stalk like head. It had the ability to fly above the ground, and lifted it's head like a snake. I manually cut off communications with the NERV base. I really didn't want to hear anything else from them, and I was sure they didn't want to hear what I was going to say, if I said anything at all. I was going to use this time as my own personal anger management / stress relief.

I quickly sprinted to where the angel was floating. It deployed two pink energy whips, and tried to strike me with them. I quickly learned to dodge them as I watched them cut straight through the building separating me and it, severing my umbilical cable. The timer started to click down rapidly, one minute left. I peppered it with pallet gun, to which it just reacted by slicing my gun into pieces. "Not... Good..." I said to myself trying to get a breath in. We traded dodge for dodge as the time ticked down, closer and closer to the final point. The angel then grabbed a hold of me and threw me into a mountain, a shrine not too far off. Alarms started going off in my cockpit. "What the hell?" I asked as an orange screen identified two humans, right beside where I landed. "You have got to be kidding me!" I yelled in the cockpit as it identified them as Kensuke and Toji. "I can't... grrrrr... DAMN IT!" I slammed the release of my plug. "TOJI, KENSUKE, GET OVER HERE!" I yelled to my acquaintances. They quickly found there way into my plug.

"God is this water?" Toji commented as he got in after Kensuke.

"You two, SHUT UP!" I snarled at them. If I didn't win, we would all die, including me. While I wanted to eventually die in battle, it was an EVENTUAL wish. Not today. The angel had flew over head a grabbed me, pulling me into an embrace. I quickly deployed my prog-knife and charged the angel. "FUCK YOU!" I sneered as it's energy whips pierced into my Eva's abdomen. I growled as I pushed the control for the knife forward, slowly making progress. Kensuke and Toji were talking to me but I couldn't hear them. I was in too much pain to even try to listen to them at this point. The knife broke into the angel's core, but did nothing further. "10 seconds left." The Alarms announced. I ripped out the prog-knife, then slammed my fist into the hole formed by the knife, then placed my other in, pulling the sides of the core away from each other. "LETS SEE IF YOU CAN SURVIVE THIS!" I yelled as I pushed the controls further to the sides, pushing the core away from itself. "3... 2..." The core split and the angel fell.

"HELL YEAH!" I yelled excitedly, then passed out. The pain in my side was indescribable, and even if I tried it would probably come out as nothing but growls and shrieks. My head turned back on the com system as I fell though.

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'Shit' I thought. I was back in the hospital room. I looked down at my body, it was in perfect condition. 'and that means I can leave' I said the rest in my head. I quickly got redressed and called Misato, though she didn't pick up. I had to wait a bit for a nurse to come find me. She was nice and got a hold of Misato, who did nothing but chew me out, I apparently was not authorized to all civilians inside the entry plug, and I was insubordinate. It was only by a small miracle coincidence that Misato authorized it while in progress. We went home, Misato let me just go back to sleep. She didn't want me over exerting myself.

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The next day I was to stay home from school, which I didn't mind much, though it was a pain in the ass. I stayed at home, unpacking, now that I had a chance. That didn't take much time though. I used the rest of my day just sitting on the roof and resting, wasn't ideal, but I had nothing else to do. Plus, I liked the sun. When Misato came home she repeated her speech about stupid actions on the battlefield, then I made us both dinner. Misato was becoming more and more endearing as time went on. She was becoming a bit like an older sister, trying to keep me in check, which I wouldn't have minded, though I did wish she would keep some of her opinions to herself, especially the ones about me and dating, but I kept quiet.

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My alarm went off the next morning. I slowly got up and dressed then went into the bathroom to complete the ritual. I went into the kitchen and started breakfast and gave Pen-Pen his morning can of Yebisu. He happily accepted that and his fish when it was done. I noticed he was getting a bit bigger in size but I ignored that fact. A fat animal usually meant a happy animal, and this was an incredibly happy penguin.

"Misato wake up, breakfast." I said to her from her door.

"Thanks Shinji, you might want to head in early today." She commented.

"Sure, whatever." I said agreeing with her, then shut her door.

I headed off to school, it was cool outside today, we were supposedly getting some rain later in the week. When I got to school Kensuke and Toji both barraged me with thanks and questions. I was quickly thankful for Hikari immediately putting them both in their place.

"RISE BOW SIT!" Hikari yelled, and the day officially started.

By the time lunch came around I didn't get much done. After lunch we just took a test, not too hard.

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"Sounds fun, count me in." I said to the geek I had come to accept as my friend.

"Sweet! Trust me, you won't regret coming with us!" Kensuke exclaimed.

They were talking about going to the arcade today, the teacher had let us talk today after we had finished our last test, and was currently snoozing at his desk. Misato still had me grounded but I called her to see if it was okay. She didn't seem to mind her, and agreed that if I didn't "socialize" properly, that bad things could happen. She was more concerned about the idea of me doing nothing at home then she was about the idea of me doing something stupid outside, and relented shortly after.

"Pilot Ikari. I have been told to inform you that our presence is requested at NERV today after school." Rei said, walking over to my desk. Her eye was still covered, along with that cast.

"Really?" I asked in a light tone, I really did want to go hang out with my new friends. She didn't say a word as she sat down at her desk. I could tell Rei was not one to drag on conversations if she didn't have too. "Sorry guys, but work has called." I said in a somber tone, looking at my friends.

"It's no problem man, right Toji?" Kensuke said, and rammed his elbow into Toji's side.

"Er... Right man... Do what you got to do." He said staring out at Rei.

"Something wrong?" I asked as I noticed who he was staring at.

He turned his face to me. "Its nothing, but that has been the first time I have heard her address anyone since she started coming here, and that was like, second grade or so..." Toji said.

"Not only that, but you are the only person she has been seen alone with... It would only be right to tell you that rumors are starting." Kensuke added in.

"And what are you three doing?" Hikari walked up on us.

"NOTHING!" Toji yelled. He seemed rather nervous around the class rep. She was the one who reported to the coaches on his grades, and bad grades meant bad things were going to happen.

"Mr. Aida, Mr. Ikari, Mr. Suzuhara." Hikari said before sitting down near us.

"Er... Hi Hikari, you want something?" I asked, nervously, it was the first time I used her first name. I did notice her blushing at the aspect.

"Kodama wanted me to ask you why you are no longer going to the coffee shop." Hikari muttered, still stunned at the aspect of her first name being used.

"Oh! I forgot about that, sorry. The mob has finally been called off, so I didn't have a reason to go there." I explained. She frowned a bit at the mob part, then giggled.

"That's good to hear." She said before she got up and walked away.

"You and Hikari?" Toji looked confused.

"If you are implying we have something going on, you would be wrong. I just know her older sister, she works at a coffee shop near Misato's." I said, skipping the part that Hikari was almost always there, and sat at a table not to far from me everyday, drinking the same exact drink she ordered everyday.

"That makes sense!" He said with a new found resolve. "Oh, Shinji, by the way, I need you to come with me to the hospital sometime. My sister Sakura wants to meet the man she believes is her hero." He said. I didn't want to broach that subject. It had only been a few days since he tried to sucker punch me in the face for hurting her. That and I actually felt bad for hurting her.

"Toji, uh, don't take this the wrong way but, I don't think that is such a great idea." I replied. The more I thought about it the less I wanted to go. It didn't seem right for me to march in there, apologize, then leave.

"Take your time man. I just promised to bring you there eventually. I can understand that it can be a big thing to ask." He said, noticing my look of pain

"Thanks, I promise I'll go there when I get everything sorted out." I said.

The bell rung signaling the time to leave. "Um... Mr. Ikari... Would you please stay behind a few minutes?" The Class Rep said to me after everyone had left the classroom but us and Rei.

"I am actually supposed to head to the Geofront, but sure. Need something?" I asked her.

"Oh... its nothing... go on ahead..." She said. I thought I could hear a bit of doubt in her voice, but that was quickly overruled when Rei walked past.

"Sorry Hikari, but got to go." I said before nearly breaking out in a run toward the door. "Ayanami, wait up, I have no idea how to get to the Geofront from here, those maps are a pain in the ass!" I shouted down the hall, and then finally caught up with her. "Look, I don't know how to get to NERV other than walking to my apartment. I kind of need to follow you." I tried to catch my breath.

"I will lead the way." Rei said, then started walking once again.

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We had been walking for nearly half an hour before I started trying to talk to her. She didn't seem very enthused with the idea of holding a conversation. "Where are we?" I asked. We had entered a subway earlier and walked through a door that opened when Rei swiped a key card through.

"We are headed to the Geofront." She replied, not showing any emotion.

"You know, I was not kidding when I said you should smile more." I said back.

"Noted." Was all she said as she kept walking. The rest of the trip was made in silence. I was trying not to upset her, something about her was off though.

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When we finally arrived we were greeted with a klaxon blaring as a large door opened. She led me further inside until we were at one of the moving walkways. "Where to now?" I asked. She just stepped onto one of the walkways and I did the same.

"Shinji, there you are." Misato said, watching as the pathway brought us closer. "I thought with Ayanami leading you, you would be here an hour ago. Didn't you take the train?" She asked.

"Er... No, Rei and I walked here. She showed me a pathway under a substation." I replied.

"Huh... That's unusual. Have anything to say about it Rei?" Dr. Akagi asked, not appearing to care one way or the other.

"I needed time to think." Rei replied curtly. She did not go on further as she walked into the female pilot changing room. Misato then shoved me into the male counterpart and handed me a latex suit.

"These suits suck, can't I just wear my normal cloths?" I asked, not exactly excited about wearing this thing again. It constricted against my skin, didn't let me breath either.

"It is a plug suit. You will get used to it, it also helps to keep sync with the Eva. Plus, keeps you alive." Dr. Akagi said offhandedly. I finally relented and headed into the room to change. Once I was done I regretted it.

"Now follow Rei to the testing area." Misato said, then headed off to a random destination.

"Looks like you are stuck with me." I said watching as Rei walked her dressing room, missing her cast, her arm hanging limply at her side. She was obviously in pain. "Rei, hand me your cast." I said before snatching it from her. I quickly put the cast back into place on the plug suit. "Try not to take this off too much. It might affect how the bone grows back." I said looking into her hypnotic red eyes.

"Thank you, Pilot Ikari." She said, with a remainder of a little pain in her voice.

"No problem. I was told to follow you into the testing area." I said. She got on her feet and started walking until we hit another of those moving pathways. "God I hate these things." I said aloud, not liking the idea of having to transverse over these things. My legs were usable, and using them was something I liked to do.

"You will be heading that way." She said before pointing off toward the plug marked 01. She than walked to the one that had 00 on it and climbed up a ladder, obviously having trouble so I went over to her. I noticed that the mechanism holding the pod in place had controls that weren't too far off I walked over to them. I found the key that lowered the pod and pressed it until the pod was at her level. She glared at me, though I was happy enough. A female technician started yelling at me to stop pressing buttons. I read her name tag, it was Ibuki Maya.

"Sorry Ms. Ibuki. Ayanami just looked like she was having difficulties getting into her pod with that cast on. I am sorry if I messed anything up. I will be heading to my pod now." I apologized. She had turned a bit red in the face, but I suspected that was anger more than anything else. I climbed up the ladder into my pod and got ready for what I expected to follow.

"Pilot Ikari, we are going to fill your plug with LCL and activate all systems. You will be sitting in the plug for an hour so that we can get sync readings off of you." Dr. Akagi said over the com channel. She was a rather annoying woman but I let it pass.

"Whatever." I replied as the pod filled with LCL. I couldn't help but keep thinking it was blood. The taste was too much to stop. I slowly fell into a trance like state, bliss wrapping around my body. Up in the command room, from what I could tell, people were going all over the place. It looked almost like a party, but I couldn't hear any music.

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I didn't notice the coms when they did come back on. Dr. Akagi said something and the LCL started to drain from the plug. Snapping out of it a bit I headed outside. "Is something wrong?" I asked the fuming doctor.

"Your scores are inconclusive. Guess what that means?" She said. Before I could answer Misato walked over.

"It means we will figure it out next week. Remember, we still have our little girl's night out tonight." Misato said before tugging me and nearly throwing me into the male pilot's room. I took a shower and redressed. Rei was already out and was still having trouble putting her cast back on.

"Here, let me." I said. It took her a few moments but she offered me her arm in defeat. I quickly placed the cast back on and tightened the strap. "That should be it." I said. She just got up and left. "Strange girl." I said, in all reality she was starting to grow on me.

I found Misato still talking to one of the crew members. When she was said and done she pushed me toward a pathway and off we went. "Hey Misato, what does Inconclusive mean?" I asked her.

"Inconclusive means that your reading were random. We could not get a solid number on them. Its nothing to worry about, the Magi just might not know how to handle your numbers yet. It didn't take them long to figure out Rei's. Though, that was before I was even here." She said.

"So Rei has been here longer than you?" I asked.

"From what I am told, she has been here since she was a small child. Gend~ The Commander has taken care of her since childhood, well, not exactly, he has given her orders since she was a small child. I don't know much." She shrugged. By this time we were already at the front gate. Misato led me to her car and we drove off. The ride home was in silence. I was thinking about what kind of life Rei must have led before I arrived.

"Shinji?" Misato said poking me.

"Huh? What?" I asked groggily, must have fallen asleep.

"We're home, and its your turn to cook." She said, then added, "And Ritsuko is coming over, we are going to have a girl's night out." She finished.

"Okay." I said before getting out of the car. I walked up the stairs and entered the apartment. I headed to the sink in the kitchen and splashed cold water on my face, waking myself up. "Much better." I said to myself then started dinner.

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Time flies when you are doing something you could count as fun, and I didn't so much mind cooking. It gave me something to focus on. Dinner consisted of curry and a few other things. Dr. Akagi did show up like Misato said.

"Hello Ikari." She said looking at me while I was setting the table.

"Hello Dr. Akagi." I replied back, then set the dishes on the table.

Dinner went `well I suppose. She didn't talk much, Misato did though. From what I could gather they were old friends, likely college. After dinner was finished I went to go clean up, dishes and things. Before they left however, Dr. Akagi called me into the living room.

"Ikari, would you mind delivering this to Rei's house tomorrow. I forgot to give it to her after the test." She said, handing me a card.

I was staring into the card when Misato finally broke through. "Aw... That's so cute... Shinji's in love." Misato said.

"I AM NOT!" I said, probably yelled, while blushing. "It's just I've noticed that Rei seems to be a bit distant from people." I said.

"She doesn't have many social skills." Dr. Akagi commented. "Misato, if we don't leave now, we might not be able to fit in any bars." She added.

"Right... Well, see ya Shinji, we are going to go have some fun." Misato said, then winked to tease me.

"Later Misato." I said, and they left.

"I wonder what she thinks about." I commented to myself as I went back to the kitchen to finish cleaning. The more I tried to distract myself the more I seemed to wander back to the subject of Rei Ayanami. I knew nothing about her, and neither did anyone else save my ….. The Commander, and Dr. Akagi. I couldn't reasonably ask either one of them about the issue. So, I figured that asking Rei herself would be best, but how to do it? Take her on a date? No, too risky. Just come out and ask her? No, probably result in silence. "Gah! She shouldn't be on my mind this much!" I said aloud in the apartment. My only reply was a WARK coming from the penguin. "Hey Pen-Pen, do you know anything about Rei?" I mused to the him.

"Wark." His response. He handed me a can of Yebisu, having no fingers to open it himself.

"Sure buddy, here you go." I said snapping the top and handing it to him.

"WARK!" He sounded happy. He then headed back into him freezer.

With all the chores done I decided to go get some rest. I couldn't however stop thinking about Rei... Who was she? It was a like a big mystery novel set up in my head. Tomorrow would be Sunday so I decided not to stress it, and went back into the living room to watch TV.

"Today, a student from the Yomiyama North High-school's Class 3-3 fell to death from the third story window." The News reporter said, as soon as I turned on the TV.

"And that's enough for me." I said as I clicked the television back off.

I went back to my room and laid back down. It took a while, but I finally fell asleep. I dreamt that night of a being in a hospital, no NERV's hospital. I awoke in my hospital room and changed. Walking through the halls I noticed that no one was there, and it didn't seem there had been anyone there in years. I watched the shadows for any sign of movement, as they seemed to be the only true way of seeing anything against the outline of the lights. Something cold touched my shoulder. Turning around slowly I saw a faceless girl. From what I could tell it was Rei, but her facial features had been erased and replaced with skin.

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And then I woke up. I didn't even want to try to interpret that dream. I got around to checking if Misato was home, and of course she wasn't. "I wonder why they agreed to let her be my guardian." I mused to myself before remembering what I was supposed to do today. I grabbed my jacket and the telephone Misato had given me. Noticing the address on Rei's ID, I estimated it would be a half hour walk to her place. I wrote Misato a note in case she got home, explaining what I was doing and telling her I had my phone, then headed out the door.

The walk over to Rei's place was made in silence. I was enjoying the silence, but the closer I got to the area she was supposedly living in, the more I began to get frustrated. Construction noises were everywhere, not to mention, druggies and the like. It infuriated me to see any area like this.

"You have got to be kidding me." I said aloud when I got to her apartment building. It was an old gray building, looking in a shape of major disrepair. The stairs were old concrete ones, but had many cracks along them, ready to go at any moment. The safety railing was old and rusted, paint chipping off many parts. The roof looked like it was jury rigged in some areas, only patched to keep out the occasional rain. I slowly walked up the stairs, and found her door.

I rang the bell but I heard no bell chime inside, so I decided to knock on the door instead. The door cracked open upon me lightly tapping it, signaling no lock, or even way to keep the door shut. "Ayanami, I am coming in." I shouted into the apartment with no answer. The place was filthy. The ground was a gray and brown color, where I could once see white tiling. The counters were stained, with what I did not know. The sink had a layer of grime that could only have been made over YEARS of accumulation. I walked further inside, a closed door going further into the apartment, and a walkway heading to a bedroom. I noticed a pair of broken glasses that sat on a dresser of some sort. Looking further around the room I found the jackpot of all drugs. Most of them were written in what appeared to be English, and I didn't have much ability to read. I could however make out a series of marks that I knew meant danger.

A door closed behind me, looking back I saw Rei standing there. She was undressed and clearly just came out of a shower. She had a towel covering her breasts, and one she was using to dry her hair. She looked captivating, I just stared at her, taking in the sight. I started to my mind wander, but I quickly shut that thought away. Before I could say a word she walked up to me to retrieve the glasses I held in my hand. She grabbed my arm and started to fall back. I threw the glasses onto the sparsely covered bed to keep them safe, then turned with Rei in my arms so that I would take the brunt of the fall. My head slammed into the hard concrete floor. "Ouch." I said aloud, then added, "Are you alright?"

Silence then an answer. "Yes, I believe so." Rei said. Her towel had fallen on the floor.

"Er... Rei... Um..." I stared in every direction except on top of me. She was just sitting there, on top of my crotch. It took some willpower to keep from letting my biological parts know about the stimulation. She slowly got up, causing a quick jab of stimulation, and got redressed, I kept my eyes away from her, knowing exactly what would happen if I tried.

"Rei... You really should invest in some security." I said still looking away, she was taking awhile to get redressed.

"I see no reason." She said flatly, before walking over to her bed and retrieving the glasses. She then picked up a small case and gingerly laid them inside. The case snapped shut.

"Er, what if I were a rapist, you would have been a perfect ~ gah, not good, okay, thief then, I could have come in here and stolen everything you valued." I started. "Also, you can't be seen without clothes on, it is indecent. You should at least know that, and what is with you living here? This building is horrible, how do you stand it? It's not fit to be lived in, I mean between the stairs and rails alone, this place is a major safety hazard. ~"

"I thank you for your concern Pilot Ikari, but this is where I have been ordered to live." she interrupted. "and what is indecent?"

"Indecent? YOU DON'T KNOW INDECENT?" I started freaking. "It's a concept, you know, where you try to be presentable to the rest of humanity without causing adverse issues, for example, being fully dressed."

"Understood. I have no valuables in this apartment. Thieves would find no reason to break in." She interjected. "I do not know what you mean by adverse issues either."

"Uh by that I mean you (god you're beautiful, I would like very much right now to do~) should not try to cause anyone to freak out." I said while trying to avoid my thoughts.

"You seem to be rather distracted, would you prefer I took my clothes back off?" She asked, looking confused.

"NO" I shouted while actually thinking 'god what I wouldn't give for that to happen.'

"Why are you here?" She finally asked.

"Oh... Right... um... Here..." I said handing her the new ID. "Dr. Akagi forgot to give it to you after the tests, she asked me to deliver it." I said.

"Thank you..." She said before laying the card next to the case with glasses.

"Rei, do you mind if I clean up a bit?" I asked. I couldn't stand the look of her apartment. It was worse than Misato's before I got there, and that said too much.

"Clean up?" She said in a confused fashion.

"I have a question, where is the nearest store?" I asked.

"Down the street." Rei said, knowing the area quite well.

"Will you be here if I left for a bit then came back?" I asked.

"Yes." She said. I really didn't think she left her building other than school and NERV things.

"Alright, I'll be right back." I said as I walked out of her apartment. I headed off to the small store that was down the road. It took me a few minutes to get down there but I found the cleaning supplies I needed, along with some trash bags. I paid for everything at the counter and left. I quickly returned to her apartment and held the door shut as I knocked it this time.

Rei answered the door and allowed me back inside. "Okay..." I said as I sat the bags down on the table she had in the kitchen/dining room. I brought out some of the things that I had bought, mostly cleaning supplies. "How about you just sit down." I asked her. She complied and sat down at the table, not taking her eyes off of me. I cleaned the tile floor in the kitchen, then scrubbed the sink. The water was a filthy gray color as it came out, but I didn't posses the know-how to fix that. After that was done I started to throw away the trash littering the apartment. Rei never once took her eyes off of me, but she didn't seem to understand.

"Better?" I asked her.

"Why did you do that?" She asked.

"I didn't like it." I answered honestly.

"Like?" She asked, still confused.

"Like... Er... It means something I prefer, or something I would rather have. I didn't like the way your apartment was, so I fixed it to something I preferred. Understand?" I asked.

"I think so." She said, she then got up and went to her room.

"Rei?" I asked.

"Yes?" She answered from her room.

"May I come in?" I asked, not knowing what to expect.

"Yes." She said. When I entered she was reading a dictionary, she looked rather intent on finding whatever she was wanting to find.

"Well... I think I should head home now... I noticed you don't have your bandages anymore. Are you alright without them?" I asked. For some reason her being in pain did not settle well in my stomach.

"The wounds have healed. I thank you for your concern. I would like to talk to you again at some point in the future. Would you mind coming over again?" She asked

"No problem." I said while rubbing the back of my head, I was rather nervous at that prospect.

"Well, I have got to go now. It was nice spending time with you Rei." I said and headed toward the door. Rei was still busy with her book, so I didn't feel like bothering her. I noticed that it was still fairly early in the day, so I decided that if I had some free time I might as well make the best of it. I went back to the store and picked up a bag of assorted candies and a small black backpack. It felt normal against my jacket. I then called Toji up.

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"Hey Toji..."  
" Hi man."

"I was wondering if you would mind me making good on my promise to go meet and greet your sister?" I asked.

"Sure man... Uh... I can't be there but I can tell you which hospital and room." He said, rather distracted for some reason.

"That works for me." I said, he then gave me the address and gave me a rather good description of the hospital. I started to walk in that direction, mind set on making due to my promise.


	5. Interjection: First Break

Chapter ?:

A/N: Though this might have nothing to do with the story, I got bored.

Disclaimer: I do not own NGE or anything about it. I do however thank Gainax for giving us the series.

"I feel cold." I said. I could not remember where I was or what I was doing. I felt as if my body had died. Slowly I began to look up, I saw nothing but black, then I looked down, it was the same.

"Baka." I heard in the distance. I could not see where it was coming from, but the voice sounded familiar. It almost brought an image to mind.

Running toward the voice I was nothing still. I felt like breaking down, I could not remember... I wanted to remember... I wanted to... fight? Yes, that's right. I wanted to fight... I had to help someone... I could not remember who...

I kept running and running until my legs gave out. I started dragging myself toward where the voice came from.

"Giving up already? Typical Baka. Why don't you just go run away?" The voice called out in a mocking tone.

"I have to help... I have to save her..." I said aloud, as if to answer the voice.

"I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP! I DON'T NEED ANYONE'S HELP!" The voice screeched. Whoever it was, was beyond angry.

"I will not give up. I don't care. I love you." I said to the voice. I was still dragging myself closer and closer to where I was sure the voice came from... I wanted to see... her... at least one last time. I could not remember who she was, but I felt helpless without her.

My legs and arms then snapped like twigs. The pain was unbearable, but I kept trying to push on. I would never give up. I would have rather died than to give up. A voice rang out in utter pain and hopelessness. I soon realized it was my voice. I was screaming, but I didn't remember why.

She then screamed out in pain, bringing a shrill shriek to my ears. "ASUKA!" I called out. That was right. I had to save Asuka... I had to save Asuka... "I HAVE TO SAVE ASUKA!" I screamed.

I woke up in the entry plug. Most of my systems were dead and the Eva had been ripped apart, the arms and legs torn into shreds, my chest plate was gone. "Asuka." I said aloud, no one could hear me, but I had to save her... It was the reason I was in this Eva in the first place. Unit 02... Her Eva... Mine was still being repaired... I had to use it to save Asuka... I needed to save Asuka... I wanted her back...

Without another word the Eva began to power up. The legs had somehow been repaired, but I didn't notice, the arms also reformed after that. I gripped the controls, and started running toward the beast that had swallowed her. Unit 03, the newest edition to the NERV collection. Toji was supposed to be the new pilot, but he had gotten... sick.. yeah, that's right... so Asuka volunteered to do the test run. That's why... all this started. Asuka got into the Eva. She didn't tell me what was going to happen, she just did it on impulse... But I had to save her now...

I charged the newer Eva. It turned around to face me and roared, as if knowing a battle was to ensue. Unit 02 did the same. It returned the call of battle. I jumped onto other Eva. It bared it's large red teeth to me, though I knew they were only the armor, I could see a bunch of red spikes inside the mouth, most likely the beast's real teeth.

"Asuka." I said once again under my breath. I would not let this beast steal her from me, nor anyone. I had to make sure she was safe again. I wanted her back, had to have her back.

It grabbed onto my sides, then tried to push me off. I held firm to it's head. I was standing on it's shoulders to get a better leverage point. It tried to rip me off once again, but I held firm. I had to save Asuka. I tightened my grip on head, and wrenched it out of place. The head went flying as I flipped off of the beast's back, slamming it into the ground.

I could see the entry plug in the back. It was covered with a white webbing. I knew that I had to get it out. Asuka was in there. I had to save Asuka. I sprinted over to the momentarily stunned Eva. I ripped it's arms off as soon as I got to it. I didn't want it to interrupt. I ripped out it's knife from the shoulder pylons. I had lost mine a while back. I jammed the knife it's back and twisted it against the plug, slowly extracting it. It finally popped out enough for my hands to grab it. I ripped it the rest of the way out. White tendons served to keep the connection to the Eva going. Unit 03 was still alive on the ground, but could not move. I had it pinned underneath my Eva. Using the knife I severed the white connections. I kept the plug near my chest. I didn't want to risk damaging it.

I took the knife and stabbed the Eva repetitively. I kept stabbing until I broke through the armor plate, exposing it's core. I delivered the knife into it's core, watching as sparks began to fly out of the knife. Unit 03 just start gargling, it's head had been removed.

Unit 03 stopped moving. I left the knife in the shattered core. Slowly I got up and walked over to a nearby river. The sky had turned dark, and stars could be seen in every direction. "Let's sit on the riverside and watch the stars, at least one last time." I said aloud, though I knew she couldn't hear me. My body felt as if it was breaking down, but I had her now.

I sat the Eva down, crossing it's legs in a meditative pose. I held her plug in one hand, and the other I set across Unit 02's neck. I ejected my plug far enough that I could get a good hold on the arm. How I made my way down the arm was a haze, I couldn't see straight, or think straight. All that mattered was her.

I got to the plug and found the hatch. I pulled out the handles and twisted with all my strength. I felt them start to move, and the hatch exploded outwards. LCL began pouring out of the plug. I pushed my way inside the plug. The darkness was total. I could not see, but I knew where she was. I pushed myself further inside the plug and felt her hair. I then reached down and felt her hand. I grabbed a hold of it and pulled her toward the entrance. Her skin was warm to the touch, I knew she was still alive. I reached the entrance and pushed her out onto the Eva's palm gently. I crawled my way out right after her. She was laying down. I slowly crawled closer to her, then took her and pulled her closer to me. "She's so warm." I said. I held her in my hands and looked up to the sky, without the lights of the city, everything was so easy to see.

She moved a bit in her sleep and eventually woke up. She slowly clamped down further on me, as if she didn't believe I existed. "Baka?" She said, sobbing softly into my chest.

"Don't worry. You're safe now. I saved ~" I said with a weak smile then my body finally let out. If I died I didn't care, I saved her, my purpose was complete.


	6. Chapter 5: Floating Mirror Cube of Death

Chapter 5:

Gainax owns everything, I do not.

"It's now or never." I said to myself. I was standing outside the room Toji had told me that his sister was in, and I was having to gain courage to face a little girl. It must have been a pitiful sight to anyone who saw me.

I opened the door slowly, and was greeted by a small voice yelling "WHO'S THERE!"

Opening the door fully I saw a girl who could be no older than eight or nine, brown hair, cute in the childish sense, endearing as one would see a little girl. She was laying on the bed, not looking to happy to be interrupted with whatever she was doing.

"Hello." I said quietly, hoping to quiet the little girl.

"I don't know you, but don't get any ideas. If you do something stupid, my brother will beat you up good!" She said, without any sense of fear.

"I am sure Toji would." I chuckled at the prospect, been there, done that, came back with a Rei judo hold T-shirt. She quieted down after I mention Toji. "Do you know who I am?" I asked the small girl.

"No..." She said.

"My name is Ikari Shinji." I said.

"YOU'RE THE GUY WHO SAVED US!" She yelled and clamped down on one of my arms as I sat down. I just let her do what she wanted, I owed that at the very least to her. She eventually came to her senses and let go, but struggled to get herself fully back into the bed.

"Need help?" I asked, noticing her plight.

"No thanks, I got to do this on my own, or I might never get better." She said with a smile. I immediately felt a jab of responsibility in making this girl this way.

"You're a tough one aren't you?" I asked her. Wanting to cheer her up, if I could.

"You could say that. Oh! If Toji hasn't already told you, my name is Suzuhara Sakura!" She said happily. "I have heard so much about you, Toji talks about you when he visits. He comes around a lot, I just wish he wasn't so unhappy when he left." She said.

"Don't worry about him. He probably has issues he needs to work out in his own life right now. This is for you by the way, just don't tell Toji that I gave you this, he might have a cow, and don't eat it all at once." I said handing her the bag of candy.

"WOW!" She yelled happily. "SO MUCH CANDY! THANK YOU!" She said at the top of her lungs. "The food here sucks, they don't let me have any of the good stuff." She said with a huff. I think she calmed down a bit.

"I wanted to apologize for putting you in here." I said with a smile.

"No need to apologize. If it weren't for you, both me and Toji would not be here at all." She said going through the candy. After that we spent a good deal of time talking. I learned that Toji didn't have much in terms of family or money, and he was trying to get an athletics scholarship out of here. I couldn't fault him for that one. I also learned quite a bit about Sakura. She idolized her brother but she wanted to be a nurse or doctor, even if all they did currently was bring her pain.

I stayed with her for a good hour. It was nice to know that she was okay. I still felt bad for allowing this to happen, but she seemed happy, and that's what mattered most for the time being. She said that she would be allowed to leave the hospital eventually, they just needed to make sure she didn't relapse. She was having fun tearing into the candies. Eventually she fell asleep and I covered her with her blanket and left.

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After that I decided to head home. It took me a while to find the apartments, the city had a tendency to change every hour or so. When I did get home, no one was around so I cooked me a small meal and tried to watch TV. That didn't last very long. I decided to go explore local woods.

As soon as I headed out it started raining. I didn't mind much, the rain brought a sense of relief. It didn't take me long to escape into the treeline. I spent my time with the trees, which much to their credit calmed my mind. I don't know how long I was out there, but the darkness crept in, so I figured it was time to leave. I slowly walked into an open field that I was sure was the way home when I spotted a familiar face.

"IKARI? IS THAT YOU?" Kensuke shouted over the wind. He was in fake military fatigues and had a few fake guns, or at least I hoped they were fake. He seemed to have been playing soldier.

"Hello Kensuke." I said. He ran up to me, gun swaying against his strap.

"What brings you out here so late?" He asked, as he huffed for breath and adjusted his glasses.

"Got bored at home, decided to take a walk." I answered, shrugging my shoulders. "What are you doing up here?" I asked back.

"Uh... Nothing. Toji and I were going to head to the arcade, but he had to go, something about making his sister was okay. You know he is down there at least twice a week? Kind of a sad sight, but I can understand why. That's why he wanted to clock you so bad ya' know? I feel sorry for him. His family is small enough as is, I mean, without a mother, it is kind of difficult around their house." Kensuke said, as he got some kindling and started a small fire.

"Yeah, I visited her today." I said, Kensuke looked up at me shocked. Then he seemed to quiet down.

"That explains a lot. Toji must have been worried about how that went. He is very protective of his sister, it's about the only family he has really got left." He said.

"Yeah... I have got to head home now, if I don't Misato might kill me." I said, thinking about the time. Misato is already likely throwing a fit.

"I might have to pack up too." He said, then added, "but first I am going to eat, want to join me?"

"Sorry man, but I really should be heading off. Good luck, see you at school tomorrow." I said and walked away from the fire that he had started.

I slowly slipped back into town, but was quickly stopped. "Ikari Shinji, you will be coming with us." A man in a black suit that I had never seen before said. He quickly pushed me into the car, and it sped off down the road. If I had my bearings correct, we were headed for the Geofront.

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"You have got to be kidding me." I said as I was thrown into a small cramped cell. Misato showed up half an hour later and was quizzing me over where I was the whole day. I quickly told her that I was with Rei for a while, then went to the hospital to apologize to a friend's sister who got hurt, then came home and left again for the woods.

"You are kidding right?" She asked in a rather upset voice.  
"No. In fact, if Rei is any where nearby, just ask her I am sure she will tell you the same thing." I said. Misato pushed her hand to her face.

"I swear. That Italian was right." She said still covering her face. "Look Shinji, the detail we assigned to you lost you this morning after you delivered Rei's card, I think, somehow and reported you missing. We thought you had run away." Misato said, finally uncovering her face. "Sorry about this, you want to go home?" She asked, peeved, but not at me.

"I would love too." I said, honestly tired of this place. "and Misato, if this keeps up like this, I think I may just quit piloting. Just remember I have my own reasons for being here. I don't see any reason I should leave unexpectedly, if I wanted to leave I would tell someone first." I said.

The drive home was made in silence. Misato didn't want to say a word about the situation and how could I blame her. When the super secret spy agency that is under direct control of a mutlibillion dollar corporation, dedicated to saving the world, loses you for one second and freaks out, it is hardly the child's guardian's fault. When we did get home it was already late in the night, Misato offered to order something, but I really didn't feel like eating. I told her if she did, I would pay for it though.

"Shinji, it is my job to keep you fed and sheltered." She said.

"Er... Misato, do you know how much I make?" I asked her. I had thought she would seeing as she was my guardian, and handed me my first check.

"No, why?" She asked.

"I make about a million yen a month, give or take." I answered. I was surprised she didn't read my check. "They take out some of it and put it into an account for when I am older, so to be technical, I only get to use about half that." I added. Misato just stood there in silence. "The paycheck I get from NERV as an active duty pilot is huge. I don't know why, but hell, I will enjoy it while I have it."

"I make four thousand US dollars a month. What does that amount to?" She asked, not knowing the conversion rate.

"To be honest a million yen is somewhere near eight thousand nine hundred dollars last time I checked, so I would say about half that. In all reality, I am making about five hundred dollars more than you." I said without a crack in my voice.

"Then your paying for dinner." Misato added and called something up. When the food got here I did pay, ate very little, then took a shower and passed out.

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"Shinji, you have school today!" Misato yelled into my room.

"Do I have to go?" I called out. I was still tired from last night's fiasco.

"YES! Even pilots need to go to school. By the way, the Pilot of Unit 02 should be showing up within the next few weeks. We are going to meet her on her escort." Misato yelled back.

"Whatever." I said and started my morning routine.

"By the way, don't worry about my dinner tonight. I won't be home until tomorrow morning I suspect." Misato said while chewing on her breakfast.

"Okay." It was too early in the morning to make a dignified response.

"And Shinji? I think Rei is starting to like you." She said taking a sip of her beer.

I spewed out my coffee. "WHAT?"

"Just teasing!" Misato said then quickly left the apartment.

I cleaned as best I could and left, thinking, heading to school would be so much easier than dealing with Misato all day.

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Time at school passed rather quickly. I didn't get time to even talk to my friends before the bell rang for lunch. I was walking toward the downstairs when Rei stopped me.

"There is an emergency. I'll go on first." She said then took off.

'Great' I thought to myself, worrying about the next battle and what it might pertain. It didn't take long for me to find the black SUV that the Section-2 agents drove around, nor did it take them long to speed toward the Geofront. The alarms had started blaring a few minutes ago.

"Ikari, is something wrong?" Rei asked, looking out her window, I could see the reflections of her eyes on me.

"Just a little jittery I guess." I replied, little being wrong. I was hyped up on adrenaline and wanted to go.

"Why?" She asked and turned around to face me.

"It's not exactly normal for me or anyone to fight in multistory mechas that want to kill the human race, against a foe that also wants to kill the entirety of the human race." I answered looking into her eyes.

"You will be fine." She said nonchalantly. She had some serious faith in her own statement.

"And just how do you know that?" I asked.

"My job is to protect you." She answered.  
The section 2 SUV pulled into the NERV headquarters and started to descend into the Geofront. Once we reached the ground I jumped out of the vehicle and took off toward the male changing room. It didn't take me long to get into the awful suit that clung to the body as if it were literally wearing rubber.

"Shinji? You in there?" Misato called into the changing room.

I walked out of the changing room fully dressed. "Yes."

"Good, you need to go to the command room. You and Rei will be briefed on the mission." She replied, then added, "Good luck."

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"Okay Shinji, We are going to power up the Unit." The intercom barked in and out. Unit 01 was still not fully repaired from the last fight. It still had exposed areas in the chest where the whips had penetrated the armor.

"Understood." I answered. Unit 01 fully powered up, but this time it lacked the full assault on my mind. I just decided to go with it.

"Launching." The intercom almost completely cut out the word, but I understood the premise behind it. The Eva shot up toward the bulkheads that opened on after another. Until I hit the ground level. The clamps on the back of my Eva's shoulders caught on the railing this time. The pressure from the rise felt as if I was going to smash my skull against the roof of the plug.

"OW" I said over the coms.

"SHINJI WATCH -" A burning pain hit my chest as my visuals came online. A blinding white beam was cutting through my chest and a diamond shape lit up the background.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH" I kept screaming as the beam burned through the armor layers. My chest was starting to cave in toward me. Before I could pass out the pain just stopped. "Wha?" I said. The area between me and the angel turned completely black, as if we were both inside of a void. I tried my coms; they were completely dead. I slowly picked up my Eva from where it had fallen and started running toward the angel. The gaping hole in my chest exposed my core completely. The angel fired its beam again toward my chest which was washed away by my AT-Field. I pulled out my prog knife as I charged again, feeling a sudden surge of adrenaline and endorphins attack my body.

It didn't take long for me to jam the knife into the angel's core, but it fired another beam into the Eva's chest, this time hitting the space around the entry plug. "GRAH" I grunted as the LCL reached an extremely high temperature. The pain was starting to get to me as even my sight in the void between me and the angel was turning black. My Eva roared in response but took another beam, this time to the skull.

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As soon as I could feel my limbs again, and realized I was awake, I jumped off of the surface I was on.

"Ikari?" A voice called out.

"Where?" I said trying to turn around, to determine who had said it and what had happened. I heard a shuffle of movement come towards me and grab a hold of my face. A snap of a pair of scissors tore through the bandage I had over my eyes.

"Can you see?" A blue blur with two red pinpoints, which I could only guess was Rei asked.

"Barely. What the hell happened?" I asked.

"You were incapacitated." Rei answered.

"Did I kill the angel?" I asked.

"The target is still alive. I am here to brief you on the new operation." Rei replied.

"Okay." I said sitting back down. The chair pricking against my bare skin. I looked down before noticing my clothing, or lack thereof. "REI TURN AROUND!" I commanded and she did so.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, sounding slightly confused.

"YES SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG! WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES?" I shouted, appalled to be like this.

"On the edge of the bed." She replied.

I quickly got dressed, at least as well as I could being half blind.

"May I turn back now? It will be difficult to brief you if I cannot see you." She asked.

"Sure." I said fixing my shirt.

"Operation Yashima will begin at 8:00" She said before I interrupted her.

"Can we cut to the part where we take place?" I asked, not wanting to hear the whole operation.

"At 23:50 the pilots will launch at there respective elevators. Unit 01 will be using a positron rifle to fire at the target at long distance while Unit 00 will be used as protection for Unit 01. Unit 00 will be armed with a large heat sink to allow Unit 01 to time for a shot." Rei answered.

"Thank you." I said.

"Here is your food. You will need the energy to pilot." Rei said pushing a cart toward me.

"Thanks again." I said as I started digging into the food. "Is something wrong?" I asked as Rei was still staring at me.

"How does your wound feel?" Rei asked.

"What wound?" I asked back.

"The wound you received to your chest when the target burned through the armor." Rei replied. I looked down toward my chest. Nothing was different save for a slight discoloration of skin in a circle on part of my chest.

"I guess it is fine." I went back to eating. "What time is it?" I asked after I finished.

"23:20" Rei replied without missing a beat.

"That means we have to go. Have you eaten anything?" I asked her.

"No." Rei said.

"And now I feel like an asshole." I said.

"Why?"

"Because I just ate in front of you without offering you some food. If I had known you hadn't eaten I would have given you some of mine."

"Thank you for the consideration but I do not enjoy the taste of flesh." Rei said.

"That was meat?" It had never occurred to me while eating it. I just ripped through it as fast as I could.

"We must go get ready." Rei said then opened the door. I followed her out to the changing rooms and stepped into the males. 'I wonder how much Rei saw.' I thought to myself as I quickly got into the new plug suit provided for me. It was mostly red with a little black veinage across the body. This suit felt much better, it didn't squeeze as tightly against the skin, and allowed for much greater movement.

"Nice" I said to myself before looking for my AT-Connectors. I didn't find them but I did find a circular length of cloth that had lines of wires going through the thing. "I guess this is my replacement." I said as I tied the cloth around my head like a headband. I then exited the changing rooms and headed toward my Eva. Once inside I waited for new orders.

"Pilot Ikari can you hear me?" Rei asked over the coms.

"Loud and clear." I said.

"I am sorry for lying." She said.

"I don't remember you ever lying." I said back.

"I said you would be fine, as I would be protecting you. I however failed at that last mission."

"Look Rei, that was not your fault. You were not even in your Eva at the time. You could not of helped me even if you wanted to. I don't see it as lying. Plus, excuse the sexism in this comment but it is usually a man's job to protect a woman, not the other way around." I said.

"Well if you two lovebirds are ready, the mission is about to begin." Misato voice came over the radio.

"We are not lovebirds." I said back.

"I agree with Ikari ma'am. We are not pigeons, nor are we in any form or shape related to pigeons." Rei said.

"I was just teasing." Misato said in a more sour tone.

"Mission begin!" She then yelled much happier. Unit 00 and 01 launched out of there respective elevators. Rei ran over to the shuttle? 'What is the space shuttle for?' I thought to myself as I slid over to the rifle. Laying down on the ground I prepared my first shot. An energy lance was launched through the air toward me.

"Ikari!" Rei shouted as she jumped in front of the beam. The shuttle started melting almost immediately leaving Rei defenseless. Her Eva was cleanly cut in half. The top was spasming wildly, while the bottom was completely still. I called her name again and again, with no response. She was dead. There was no way to survive that. A million screams ran into my mind all at once.

I snapped. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU SO MUCH." With that I grabbed the rifle and charged at the angel. It fired but it's shot was deflected. I did not understand how nor care. The only things in the whole world were me and the angel. It changed its shape to fire another shot when I shoved the rifle straight into it's core. I lifted the angel with the end of my rifle and fired, the shot vaporized the angel's core, and continued towards space before all that was left was a small line heading up.

It's blood began to rain as I bolted straight back to the upper half of Unit 00. Seeing where the entry plug attached to the system I ripped it out. Setting it on the ground I ejected my own plug and ran to it. The hatch was sealed shut but I managed to break it open with a nearby piece of re-bar. I pulled her from the pod slowly setting her down on the grass holding her against me. "I couldn't do it. I'm so sorry, so sorry, so sorry, so sorry, so sorry, so sorry." repeating it over and over again until I felt her hand against my face. "Sorry about what?" she spoke out. I could hear the pain in her voice, "I couldn't protect you." breaking down even further, I went back to repeating "so sorry, so sorry, so sorry." "Shinji, your job is not to protect me." she laughed, "I am the one who is supposed to be protecting you." She then fell asleep in my arms as I cradled her head.


	7. Chapter 6: Human Error

Chapter 6: Human Error

Disclaimer: Fill in here.

Looking up I was again saw the lights of the hospital room. "FUCK." I said loudly before I got up. The room was empty other than a set of clothes and my jacket. Looking around I slowly got up and changed. "How did I end up here again?" I said to myself as I opened the door. No lights were on in the whole entire complex. I decided to just start walking, after reaching the elevator I noticed that there were no people. I saw nothing but a bleak darkness in all directions. "Is this supposed to be one of those spiritual trips or bull?" Hearing laughter I looked behind me and standing there was a Rei with no face. Smooth white skin draped across her skull. Eyes and mouth missing, the muscles moving underneath the skin, jaw flexing as if talking, she reached up to my face.

Then I woke up. "Okay..." I said confused. "That was not what I thought it was going to be like." I looked around, "Oh fuck." I said as I noticed that again I was in the hospital but this time my clothes and jacket were on the chair in the corner of the room instead of on the bed. I changed quickly and walked to what I believed was the front desk.

"Hi, uh Ikari Shinji checking out." I told the nurse typing away.

"Oh?" she said when she looked up. "I should probably call Misato before letting you leave, she seemed extremely worried about you."

"Thanks, is Ayanami here?" I asked.

"No." was all I got in reply.

A few minutes later a visibly shaken Misato walked into the hospital. "Hi Misato, you look like shit, need a beer?"

"I see you aren't that hurt." she said with a sigh of relief, visibly sagging her shoulders.

"Nah, I don't even know how I really got here." I replied. "Can we go home now?" I quickly added, tiring of being in the hospital for the day.

After we got home Misato tried to explain what had happened.

"So Shinji, we need to talk about what happened." Misato said as she sipped on her beer on the other side of the table.

"We won. Rei got hurt, I killed the angel, and passed out." I answered, thinking it was rather straightforward.

"I am talking about after the battle." Misato said, running her finger across the rim of her can.

"Hmm... Don't remember, probably passed out in the entry plug." I said aloud.

Misato took a large swig. "Shinji, you didn't pass out in the plug." She said.

"So I passed out in the hospital?" I asked, paying full attention to her.

"Kinda," she said, "you ripped Ayanami's ejection plug out of her Eva after it had sustained critical damage."

"So?" was all I said in reply.

"You pulled her out of the plug, does any of this sound familiar?" she asked.

"Er yeah. I pulled her out and made sure she was okay, speaking of that why wasn't she at the hospital?" I remembered after a few seconds of thinking.

"Shinji, we found you holding her body, you were barely conscious." Misato said in a low voice.

I centered around the body comment, body as in no longer living. "Um, what? No, Rei is alive, she was alive when I pulled her out."

"Shinji, there were no life signs in that pod after the beam passed through the Eva." Misato began to choke, "We found you holding her repeating "so sorry, so sorry, so sorry, so sorry." We almost tranquilized you before you just passed out."

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That night, I got no sleep whatsoever. I was completely restless. I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that I was responsible for Rei's life and had let her die. I would have happily exchanged places with her if only it meant that she was here again.

The next day Misato offered to let me skip school, I went anyway. Everything seemed more unreal as time passed by. The world just kept going on, almost oblivious to losing one of the few people who protect it. One of the only people who actually went out and died to save them without having any reason whatsoever.

When I finally got into the classroom Toji commented, "Man, you look like shit." We were standing on the outside of the classroom, everything going on as normal inside. I couldn't look inside, she wouldn't be there, and it would be my fault.

Still not looking into class all I could manage was "yeah." I felt dead, inside I felt chaos, the voices that generally guide me were silent.

"RISE BOW SIT." Horaki yelled after she walked into the room. The teacher started droning on about Second Impact. I tuned out everything that I could.

15 minutes passed before the door to the classroom slid open. "Sorry I am late sensei." With that I nearly broke down. It sounded just like Rei. Walking into the classroom was her ghost, it was here to torment me for my failure. I deserved it.

"Please don't let it happen again Miss Ayanami." the teacher managed in reply. 'Wait? The teacher can see her ghost. That doesn't sound right.' My mind drew a blank at that. I watched as she sat down in her desk not believing my eyes. There was just no way.

The Lunch bell rang. I stayed in class til her ghost left, then headed up the stairs. Up to the roof, she generally sat up there during lunch watching the other people. Slowly I opened the door to the roof, painfully slow. She was standing there, looking nearly like a cloud in contrast to the clear blue sky. I walked to her in disbelief, 'there is no way, she is dead,' repeating in my mind. "Hello Pilot Ikari," she said looking completely indifferent, "something seems wrong, does something ail you?" She had no emotion in her voice, just like when I first met her.

"R-Re-ei?" I could barely get it out. "I thought you were dead. Misato said that you didn't make through the battle."

"I was resuscitated." She said lacking any emotion that she had begun to show. "Pilot Ikari, are you feeling alright?" She asked again. "Do you need to visit the nurses office? Do you need an escort?" She asked. Something was wrong, Rei had gone back to not having any emotions, she seemed too cold, too indifferent.

I finally got up enough courage to ask, "What happened last night?"

"We were going through with the Major's plan. I received an injury that incapacitated my Eva. I was rendered unconscious and near death. You killed the angel and ripped my entry plug out and I was resuscitated. I was told I might have suffered some memory loss." she said.

"Oh," I said with a tone of sadness. Rei as I knew her was gone. She was back to being the doll. "Rei, it might not mean much now, but I should have said this awhile ago. I am sorry for letting you get hurt, not just physically, but while I was away from my father, he stole whatever sense of a normal life you could have had. You might have been happy, but because of my selfishness and his, I am responsible too." I said then turned back toward the door and walked out of the school. I was done, I had faced her and realized that I was to blame for more than one of her problems. 'Never know what you lost until it is gone.' A voice in my head decided to come back.

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After leaving school and returning home, Rei found a small black book with her writing on the front page. "Read this if you are the new me." was all it said on that page. She spent hours reading this book, it seemed impossible, these events were not in her memory, she didn't remember any of it. The last entry was "I will wait for him to be ready." And with that she again stored the book with a million thoughts running through her head. She didn't understand any of them so pushed them back down. She only knew one thing; that she would wait.

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That night Misato got the news that Rei was resuscitated successfully. She seemed much more calm afterwards, openly showing her happiness. She asked why didn't I invite her over that night.

"She doesn't remember." I managed.

"What do you mean she doesn't remember?" She asked confused.

"She suffered from some kind of memory loss. I don't think she remembers anything from when I got here except maybe the first few days." I said downtrodden.

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The next few weeks went along normally, Get up, make breakfast, go to school (despair), either go hang out with Toji and Kensuke or go practice the Eva. Actually the only thing that happened that was out of the normal was the Jet Alone incident. We had to go watch a giant robot that sucked. Before they could even start the testing it entered meltdown with its on board nuclear reactor and we had to shut it down. Misato offered to shut it down from the inside before I suggest a slightly safer idea. I found the core inside and ripped it out then let Misato turn it off instead or her going inside of the damn thing. After we got done they offered to build weapons for the Evas. I was totally open to the idea. They asked me what I would prefer. I told them that I liked CQC weapons. I did mention though that the other pilot (I tried to push down the cringe every time I thought of her) did not get into close range very often, and asked if they would please build something that would make her happy. The engineer just smiled and said "Sure."

The next week was even worse. Misato dragged me and my friends onto a boat on our day off. Kensuke was freaking out over the military equipment everywhere and almost blew a circuit when we landed. Toji spent his time ogling Misato which I thought was a lost cause.

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Once we landed Misato finally told us why we were even spending our time here. "We are here to welcome the second pilot, and Unit 02." She beamed.

With that a someone started crying out "Kaji, WHERE IS THE OTHER PILOT? HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HERE, I WANTED TO RUB HIS FACE IN HIS USE"~

"Asuka, patience, he'll be here." A very suave looking man said. Misato tensed up upon seeing him, ponytail and unshaven, loosely wearing a suit.

He was talking to a beautiful young girl, about my age, with wild red hair and a yellow sundress that further emphasized her beauty. Her sky blue eyes looked into my storm blue for a single second before I noticed that I was blushing then steeled my thoughts. "Misato Ex-boyfriend or what? And little girl, you should be more careful, the ship might capsize if you keep causing that kind of commotion." Misato's jaw dropped on how well I read her.

The fiery redhead walked down to the deck yelling "WHICH ONE OF YOU IS IT? HUH? WHICH ONE OF YOU SAID THAT?"

Not backing down from the obvious challenge I walked up and offered my hand to her, "Hi, I'm Ikari Shinji, pilot of Unit 01 and the person who called you out, now you might want to stop yelling." Smiling the whole time, there was no way this little girl could beat me at my own game.

Just as I got done the wind picked up and blew her skirt up, white cotton panties shown on a prominent display.

"PER-VERT" She yelled then slapped me.

"I am sorry, but didn't you flash me?" I asked, grabbing the side of my now warm face.

"YOU WERE STARING!" She yelled aloud.

"So, it not like it's anything much.." I sensed something wrong right after that.

She ran back to the man she was with earlier "KAJI" she began to wail. Not understanding what the hell just happened I looked back to Misato, who promptly just shrugged and raised her hands.

"Mister Ikari, was that really necessary?" He said while laughing.

"KAJI? WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING? ITS NOT FUNNY." She began to wail again.

I was getting sick of it fast. "Fine, whatever, Look, er... wait, I don't know your name. That makes it kind of hard to apologize." I got out. Right after that she walked out for dramatic effect and stood with the sun directly behind her, a few feet above from where her hair was but with the way she was on a higher deck it seemed the girl's red hair was on fire.

"My name is Asuka Langley Soryu. You may call me your replacement." she was laughing on the last line.

"So little miss Asuka, you think you can do better than me? I would love to see you try."

"You better believe it, my Eva is built for combat. The first two units are test types. They can't possibly beat the newer generation like mine."

She was on fire, absolutely beaming. My heart seemed to tighten for a second.. She was perfect, other than personality wise. I could see straight through the facade she brought to surface level. I would let it pass for now.

After that we went to have lunch on the ship, Toji and Kensuke decided to stay the hell away from Asuka. They feared for their lives from the "Red Headed Youkai." The seating arrangements at the table somehow ended up Misato, Me, Asuka, on one side, Kaji, Toji, Kensuke on the other.

"So kid, how is Misato in bed, she still a wild animal?" Kaji broke the silence.

"No, she sleeps like a baby, unless what your implying is sex, then I would tell you to duck, Misato has her hand on the pistol she keeps to her left side..." I said without looking up.

"Kaji, how could you say something like that?" Asuka added in.

"Still a man-whore as ever Kaji?" was all Misato said.

I interrupted, "Hey uh look, there are four minors at this table, who really don't want to hear about your dead sex life between each other."

Asuka went red when she realized, "OH MY GOTT, YOU SLEPT WITH HER?" facing Kaji the whole time.

"Of course, she was quite the catch in bed." He snickered. "Not to mention she is most of the reason I came back here to begin with."

Asuka got up and walked away, absolute fury for anything that stopped her. One sailor stood up in her way and regretted it immediately when she headbutted the man with enough force to break his nose. I noticed she was a good three or four inches taller than me.

"Good going Kaji, you successfully drove away another woman." Misato said smiling.

"If I remember correctly it was you who drove me off." He said smiling the whole time. Misato then frowned.

I proceeded to get up and said, "I am going to go see if I can calm her down. She might do something stupid if left by herself." With that I walked out. Kensuke and Toji were already away from the table talking to the sailors around and helping the unfortunate one with the broken nose to the medical bay.

"So there you are." I mention when I found her sulking, staring into the water below.

"You want to talk about it?" I asked trying to convince myself this was a good course of action. When she turned back I noticed that her breathing was irregular and she was almost in tears, or as close as she allowed herself to look.

"Go away." She said.

"Hmm... Nope. Sorry here to stay. Something is not right, plus, what kind of man would I be if I let you do something stupid." I said as I saw her leaning across the rail guard heavily.

"Why does everyone hate me?" was all she could manage.

'Oh shit, this is bad.' I thought. For a second I almost believed she may have been suicidal. "Come on Asuka, no one hates you." I tried to comfort her to the best of my abilities even though I was standing three feet away in case she became violently inclined again.

"Kaji hates me. He wants to get back together with Misato." She said, but sounded dismissive almost. "The two idiots you brought aboard avoid me like the plague. The sailors run from me. You hate me because I am here to replace you."

"Um... Asuka, no offense, but I doubt you could replace me. Not to mention, I don't hate you, I welcome the challenge. Without something to compare against, people become arrogant and cocky, that kills in fights."

"So the only use you will get out of me is a something to compare against?" She started getting worse.

"You know, I don't think this is what the problem really is." I said to her with a straight face. "Something else is what's wrong. This would not cause any person to do this, especially the strong redhead in front of me right now."

"You think I am strong?" Was all she asked (she stepped back over the railing thank god/whoever).

"You must be strong, if you can pilot one of the Eva's you have to be." I said relieved.

"Thank you baka." She started laughing.

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Misato found us and yelled, "Shinji, angel attack, near the ship."

I replied, "No offense Misato, but I can't really do anything here without my Eva." reminding her we were miles away from the Geo Front with no way to get there.

"Oh right..." was the response I got.

Asuka then spoke up, "TIME FOR ME TO GO TO WORK." She said giggling the whole time. I was dragged into an abandoned stairwell leading into what I believed was her room.

"Don't look, I got to change into the plug suit," she said walking down further after handing me one. When she got back she seemed agitated, "Why are you still in your clothes, you should be in the plug suit." she said while nearly pushing me down the stair. Standing nearby I started to strip and motioned to her,

"You gonna just stand there?" I said with a smile. She went up several shades of red only found in Caucasian peoples.

"Um... No... Um... PERVERT" she yelled before storming off. After changing into this new plug suit I noticed something very out of place in it. It was red. It was hers. The spacing in it was also painfully off on the anatomy of its current user I thought as it painfully squished across a rather private and vital area.

After walking back up to where she was sitting noticing she was still out of it I snapped my fingers. "Earth to Asuka... We need to do something."

She went back into focus mode and yelled, "LETS GO KILL THIS ANGEL!" I felt a singe of pain in my heart. This girl I had barely known for two hours was growing on me and fast.

"Sure Asuka." was all I could manage watching her burning passion. (Not to mention that suit was very form fitting, VERY form fitting.)

We got to the top deck where Asuka pushed me into the entry plug and then got in. She sat down in the chair then told me to hold on the back of hers to see how an actual fight was done. As soon as the Eva was powered up (with much difficultly, eventually she switched the operation language to Japanese), it sprang into action. 'Does she not have to commune with the machine?' I was thinking the whole time. She grabbed her spear from atop the ships deck. I noticed the color of the Eva from the reflection of the water, red, with orange trim and green eyes. 'Of course she would choose the colors of energy' I laughed in my head. Then she dove into the water. In B-type equipment.

"UM ASUKA THE EVA CAN'T SWIM LIKE THIS!" I yelled out a second too late.

"WHAT?" was her response.

"Shit, whats that?" I said looking into the murky depths ahead of us, whatever it was it was moving fast.

"Angel sighted" Asuka said over the coms noticing my view.

"Whats wrong Baka? Scared?" Was she teasing me? We are in a place the Eva can barely move and she thinks a good idea to tease me?

"Oh please, I just know that this is your first fight." I said in rebutle. If she was going to tease me, I was going to rub her face in the fact she was a technical greenhorn.

"Don't worry about that, I at least have training to use this thing." She said laughing.

"Oh nice, just remember, no plan follows perfectly." I chirped in.

A few minutes later in battle we were forced inside a ravine, I was right about the Eva's lack of ability underwater, Asuka actually began to look worried. "Hey Asuka, need some help yet?" I asked waiting for her permission. I didn't want to do anything that might distract her from the current events.

"What makes you think you can do better? Huh? Baka."

"Well I have a plan, not only that, but I think I know how to do this without a single problem." I answered, thinking, planning out a workable strategy.

"Go ahead, there is no way you could do any better than me."

"Okay, I am going to need the controls." she seemed reluctant to give up but she finally relented.

"Just don't hurt my Eva." she said, and crossed her arms.

"Don't worry about it." I begun to place my plan in action. The angel circled above bull rushing anything that came out of the ravine, trying to bite it to death, my plan was simple, I walked out to the opening spear in hand, locked it between the Eva's hand and pushed it against the wall. The angel charged straight into the spear, shattering it's core on contact with the progressive spear head. In the confusion we were launched onto the beach, thankfully evacuated.

"How?" was all Asuka could managed.

"I saw it in a movie once. A dude killed a black wolf and took it's pelt as a cape like that."

She frowned then lightened up, leaning into me she said "Thank you for saving me." right before she kissed my cheek. 'OH COME ON, FATE IS JUST BEING A DICK AT THIS POINT.' After she dislodged herself from my face she slapped me. "Pervert." Saying it with a whole lot less animosity than I was already used to. I think I could get used to this Asuka though.

Misato finally opened the pod, "Are y'all okay?" she asked again and again trying to see if we missed anything.

"I think I could use a drink after all that excitement." I said with a smile.

"Me too." Asuka said afterwards, either not understanding the inside joke or understanding it all too well.

"By the way, good work Asuka, that plan worked perfectly." Misato added.

"It was ~" Asuka began but I interrupted, "Asuka did great didn't she?" I tried to say with my most convincing voice, Asuka giving me a look of confusion. I smiled back at her, as if to tell her, "it's okay, your Eva, your kill."

The next twenty minutes went along in a blur. Kensuke and Toji busted out laughing when they saw me in the skin tight suit. I was not amused. Misato finally thought it was best to leave and took us home. Asuka stayed with the ship, her items were still aboard after all.

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"God she was annoying. Thankfully we will never have to deal with her again." Toji said after I sat down at my desk.

"Poor Shinji here has to work with her." Kensuke snickered. I glanced over at his camera and snatched into my hands. I deleted every picture I found of me in that plug suit.

"Still not amused." I growled when I handed him back the camera.

"Oh come on, lighten up! It was hilarious." Kensuke said while adjusting his glasses.

The door opened up and for the first time in days I felt an impeding sense of both joy and doom when I saw who was walking in.

"Hi, Asuka Langley Soryu, at your service!" Asuka said after writing her name on the chalk board in perfect cursive. Almost all the guys jaws dropped. I kept mine shut then thought 'good luck. I don't see her giving a single one of you even a minute of her "precious" time.'

"Oh! Hi Shinji." Asuka said when she noticed me in the class. Almost immediately all the eyes in the class transferred from her to me. 'FUCK' I thought.

"Hello Asuka." I said with a drone like voice, pressing my hand against my face. This was bad, very very bad.

"IF you are finished, Miss Soryu, I would like to get back to TEACHING. Now would you take that desk right there." The teacher commented and told her to sit behind Hikari.

When lunch finally hit all the guys tried for Asuka, and she quickly turned every one of them down, sometimes with some rather painful methods as one guy who tried to grope her learned. Hikari and her seemed to get it off rather quickly. While I was eating I swore I saw Hikari look at me for a single second then Asuka burst out yelling "WITH HIM? NO! GUYS ARE JUST USELESS! THEY ONLY THINK WITH THEIR -" Hikari quickly covered Asuka's mouth. I had to explain to many of the males in the class that nothing was going on between me and Asuka many times. They just didn't seem to understand that fact, but thankfully let it go.

After school let out I followed as students rushed out of the class room. Before I got to far I watched as Asuka opened up her new locker and a pile of letters dropped out.

"Useless." She huffed as she pushed them away with her shoes.

"Problem?" I asked, puzzled with her expression, she seemed to rather like the attention.

"What? You angry because I didn't read yours?" Asuka said with a rather bitter and poisonous tone.

I watched as her eyes shot daggers at my chest. "Didn't write one. If I wanted to tell you something, I would do it to your face like I do everyone else."

"Oh, so the famous pilot of Unit 01 has a set of balls does he?" She scoffed.

"Little vulgar don't you think? And what's your problem? I don't see anything you didn't actively pursue. I mean, any other girl from this school would be rather flattered by the amount of attention you are getting from the guys."

"Well maybe I don't want their damn attention. All they want me for is a piece of my body, they don't care for who I am. All they see is something that they have never had before and go after it. They're like dogs, worse even, cause a dog can't lie and keep a smile on it's face."

"If you didn't want their attention, maybe you should have tried something like say, subtlety."

"I bet the only reason you are even talking to me is a chance to get in my skirt."

"Oh, really now?" I said taking out one of my knives I carried with me most of them time. "If that was the case, I could just force you, ya know? Seeing as I haven't should paint a pretty good picture. I don't care about useless sex, or about anything that is made to make someone feel better for the moment. But you know what I think I have figured out about you? I was wrong on the ship." I then put away my knife. Asuka was staring rather intently on my pocket where the knife was put away. "You are a scared little girl who puts on a front to shove people away, but craves attention from others. I can tell you this though, no matter what, unless you try yourself to fill that void in your heart, nothing will help. Having to rely on others thoughts and images of you makes you rather weak when you can decide who you are yourself." I said then turned around and walked out.

Asuka began to follow me, her face looking both angry and confused. Before I was halfway to Misato's apartment Asuka came up right beside me and demanded I stop.

"Something wrong?" I asked looking into her angry face, her features much more prominent when angry.

"What you said back there. Were you being truthful?" She asked.

"On which part? The part about me forcing you, or the part about you being weak?"  
She slammed her fist into the side of my jaw, an explosion of pain rippled through my skull. For a slight second I went wobbly, that hurt.

"Who is weak now?" Asuka said as she walked to my side and tried to kick it. I grabbed her leg and twisted. She fell onto the grass a few feet away. By the time she even hit the ground I was back up and standing.

"Nice right hook. You got your free shot after what I said, so now I can stop feeling bad about it. Now then, right, talking to you about weakness. I think my point made itself, someone judged you weak, and you proved the fact. Now just keep out of my way." I rubbed my jaw then walked away before I heard a shuffle of movement behind me. I jumped to my left as she charged me.

"Physical prowess isn't everything. You can't win, not here. If you keep this up, you will only get yourself hurt." I said as she tried to deliver a roundhouse to my face. Ever so gently I caught her leg in midair and squeezed. The effect was almost immediate as she lost her balance and grabbed her leg.

"Damn you daddy's boy. At least I didn't have to rely on my parents position to get an Eva." She yelled out.

I walked up to her and pulled back my fist, then slowly let it down. "You know what? You aren't even worth my time." I said as I walked away.

End Chapter 6: Human Error


	8. Chapter 7: A Strange Sight

Chapter 7: A Strange Sight

Disclaimer: I don't own NGE, and I will leave this one here to refer to all future chapters.

"Why in hell's name are you following me?" I asked, noticing Asuka was still trailing behind me, completely silent, but radiating an aura of pure rage.

"Why should I answer your stupid ass?" Asuka huffed. Still clearly angry about getting thrown to the ground and insulted.

"Look, I am done wasting my time arguing with you, either answer me or don't. It's not like I really have to give a shit one way or another." I replied, still rather annoyed with her attitude. I don't remember doing anything that would set her off before the confrontation in the hallway, and she started that.

"This is where I was ordered to live." Asuka finally answered.

"Oh what a coincidence." I said rather sarcastically. "Must be easier to watch all the pilots if they are in one area."

"You live near here too?" Asuka couldn't help but show her disgust at such an idea.

"Semi-willingly at that." I replied.

The rest of the walk was made in a near silence. It only got awkward when I approached Misato's apartment building. Asuka sped ahead and disappeared into the elevator. I took the stairs as usual.

"Misato I am home." I yelled into the apartment as I walked in. Pen Pen was warking loudly inside, clearly distressed.

"Pen Pen, something wrong?" I asked looking at the peculiar bird. A second later a I was pelted by a plate. "DAFUQ?" I yelled as I grabbed my chest.

"Get out of my apartment. NOW." Asuka responded, emphasizing now.

"Your apartment? Dafuq you mean your apartment?" I said standing my ground.

"You heard me." Asuka said back, grabbing another plate.

"Now, now kids, no need for fight~ WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO PEN PEN?" Misato screamed and ran over to the bird, who probably had a concussion from the plate that rebounded from my chest onto his head.

"I did not do anything." I replied looking at the still seething redhead. "Misato, what. is. SHE. Doing. Here?" I asked, still staring at the redhead, reluctant to turn my eyes away from hers. 'Would be a sign of submission.' I rationalized in my head.

"Poor Pen Pen." Misato said then sat the penguin on the couch. "You two have some explaining to do. Asuka, why did you throw a plate at Shinji?"

"HE'S AN INTRUDER!" She downright screamed into the building.

"Thank god we don't have any other tenants in this complex." I commented offhand, it would quickly get us kicked out with her here.

"WE? AS YOU LIVE HERE?" Asuka still screamed.

"Yes Asuka, he lives here. You will both be living here from now on. And you will get along, THAT is an order." Misato said while tending to the feathered soldier.

"HELL NO! I WILL NOT LIVE ANYWHERE NEAR HIM, I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH HIM." Asuka screamed in disagreement.

"No problem. Misato, she is here to replace me right?" I asked, thinking that would let me disappear.

"Not exactly. NERV has weighed out the benefits on having three available pilots compared to two and the Commander has decided to keep you on the program." Misato answered, looking up for a second.

Asuka started to shout in German, making no sense whatsoever. "There is no way I will live with that idiot." She said before walking to my room and slamming the door.

"Dafuq she doing in my room?" I asked aloud. Then noticed my bag being thrown out into the hallway. "Huh, happy I haven't unpacked yet."

"Shinji? Did something happen between you and her?" Misato said still comforting her penguin.

"Oh not at all." I replied with a snide remark. Misato's face automatically shown her distaste for it.

"Shinji Ikari." She said with a more serious tone.

"Oh fine. She was pissed that she couldn't beat me into submission, and that I wasn't one of the guys who left her a damned letter in her damned locker." I replied.

"I doubt that. I have known Asuka since she was a little girl. That isn't what she is angry about." Misato replied.

"You know what, I don't care. She isn't my problem." I said aloud then reached down for my bag. "I am going …. er... camping... I'll be back Sunday." I announced then walked out the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"God it feels good to be back out on my own." I said laying down in a tree, using my bag as a pillow. It was getting dark but the warmth from my jacket was holding up. I relaxed in the openness of the area around me, much more at peace than I could ever find in the city.

"Pilot Ikari." With that I fell out of the tree.

"Uh... Hi... Rei... What are you doing out here?" I asked the blue haired girl she was in her school uniform, same expression on her face, with maybe a hint of curiosity. 'She looks the same, but isn't the same.' I thought in my head, then felt a pang of guilt.

"I am here to find you. I watched you depart from Captain Katsuragi's residence with your belongings. Generally when one does this, they do not mean to come back. I am not permitted to allow you to leave Tokyo-3." Rei explained.

"And who exactly asked you?" I said with a rather venomous tone, she however remained undisturbed.

"I have done this of my own free will. As of late your psychological state has been questionable. I determined it necessary to observe. Threatening Pilot Soryu is not agreeable." Rei stated matter of factually.

I sighed. "I wasn't going to hurt her. I just wanted to get my point across, I don't see her as an object, no matter how she feels about the matter."

"Is that why you allowed her to strike you?" Rei asked.

"Oh, you saw that? I didn't see it coming, I wasn't planning on starting a fight."

"Understood. I will now ask you to return to the Katsuragi household."

"Not happening." I replied as I slowly made my way back up the tree. "I am on vacation."

"Vacation? As in an absence or leave? I do not believe the Commander authorized this."

"Look, my fath- The Commander has no control what I do on my own time. He made it perfectly clear he wants nothing to do with me other than to make me fight his battles." I said.

"Then why do you stay?" Rei asked in almost a whisper.

"If I didn't they would make someone go in my place, for example you. I don't exactly like the idea of sending someone out to their death if I can fight instead. If I fight and win, someone else gets to live, if I fight and lose, we all die. If I ran away, chances are that someone else will fight and die, then well, you get the picture. To be honest though, I fight because it is who I am, it flows through my veins. I crave it just as you might crave a food, or a soda. It helps me to become something that feels so much better, free-er if you will."

"I do not crave a food or soda. You seek to allow your instincts to guide you, this is agreeable."

"You know Rei, I am sorry for ignoring you these past few weeks."

"I do not understand. You have not done anything wrong." Rei stared into my eyes, red locking into blue. "If you will not return to the Katsuragi household I would request that you stay at mine. I do not believe it is conducive to NERV to allow a pilot to go unchecked for long periods of time."

"You really won't let this go will you?" I asked. "And if I say no?"

"In the case that your reply is negative, I am prepared to observe you until you are returned to the Katsuragi household. Section 2 will also observe us as I am here. In case of emergency I have a communication device."

"Alright. I'll make you a deal. I'll go with you if you will answer a question of mine. Why do you pilot the Eva?"

"It is a bond."

"A bond?"

"Yes."

"To what?"  
"All of humanity."

"Good enough for me." I said as I hopped down from the tree. Slowly we made our way to the decrepit part of Tokyo-3 where Rei lived. The walk was rather quite, Rei only answering whatever questions I had at the time, but asking none herself. When we finally got to her apartment I noticed that it had been kept in a decent shape.

"That's a change from last time." I commented as I walked in.

"I do not understand." Was the reply.

"Last time I was over here this place was rather... Unclean..." I said hoping not to offend her.

"I have been making efforts to keep the apartment in livable shape." Rei said without a single hitch, keeping her tone the same throughout.

"I would say your doing a good job."

"Thank you. Would you perhaps like sustenance?"

"Um... Sure..." I watched as Rei walked over to mini refrigerator and pull out a single head of lettuce. The fridge was completely bare save for the head she just pulled out. I looked at Rei for a second before just shaking my head. "Uh... Rei... you do know there are other things on earth to eat other than lettuce right?"

"I have not been ordered to eat anything else. Lettuce provides many essential vitamins and minerals to providing life."

"Okay then... Here lets try this." I said opening my bag. I pulled out my phone and found a pizza takeout (Misato's cooking nights) and ordered a veggie pizza.

"I do not understand why you have done that." Rei said before sitting down.

"Just trust me." I said. As Rei opened a book I took out my knife and began to sharpen it. Never know when you will need a sharp knife. When the pizza finally arrived I payed for it with my NERV card and sat it down in front of Rei.  
"Okay, Try this." I said whilst placing a piece on her plate.

"It is rather..." She then got up and got a glass of water. "hot." She finished after her drink.

"Yeah, sorry bout that, I thought it would cool down with the trip." I said.

"It tastes agreeable." She said before eating more. She seemed to be enjoying it when she took another slice, then another before putting her plate in the sink.

"Food is one of the great passions of life, kinda an art form in itself." I said after finishing my last piece.

"Do you enjoy food?" Rei asked, looking rather confused.

"I like it, eating is not everything about food though, it's just the reward. I like cooking, it's relaxing I guess. Better to do with company though. They say food always goes better if its with others."  
Rei stared a second longer then replied, "I believe I enjoy eating with others." Then she sat back down. After a few minutes in peaceful silence Rei walked into her room and started removing her clothes.

"UH REI?" I said as I diverted my eyes.

"Yes Pilot Ikari?"

"Um... Do you remember a talk we had about decency?" I asked.

"No."

"Okay, well, uh... Rei, in most cultures it is awkward... to remove your clothes in front of an audience."

"I do not understand."

"It considered wrong for you to remove your clothes in front of me. We are not married or even lovers. In most places its wrong."

"I understand." She said before redoing her shirt buttons, but still exposing a large gap of creamy white flesh. I shivered at the thought.

"I do not have the necessary bedding to allow for guests. You will have to sleep in my bed." Rei said derailing my train of thought.

"Wha...t? I finally managed.

"I do not have extra bedding, and you are a pilot. I cannot have anything that may effect your piloting ability. You will sleep in my bed." She replied, looking perfectly emotionless, same monotone voice, as if not understanding the significance of what she had just said.

"Rei... Most people don't... um... Share the same bed unless they are lovers." I replied, still watching as she remained perfectly still, only outlined by the darkness behind her.

"Should we become lovers?" She asked. I blushed red.

"Do you even know what you just asked?" I stuttered out.

"I am unfamiliar with the concept of lovers, but I asked if we should become them if it will allow you to use my bed." She replied, still monotone.

"Rei... Uh... Have you ever had the um... shit... how did I hear it... I didn't... uh... OH! Rei have you ever heard of the birds and the bees?" I finally remembered the most common analogy for that subject.

"I have seen many birds and bees."

"Screw it... Rei, do you know what sex is?"

"To a degree. My knowledge is somewhat limited on the subject. It is when a male and a female use their reproductive organs to please the each other." My jaw dropped at how casual she was being about talking about this subject.

"Well, Lovers means two people are having sex, therefore share the same bed." I said, trying to dissuade her.

"I do not have the necessary knowledge on how to please you sexually. Do you know of where I could obtain this knowledge?" My jaw dropped once again. Without even thinking I replied, "Misato could tell you... WAIT! Lovers also means you feel an immense bond with the person you are sleeping with, which I do not think we have, therefore it would be wrong to become lovers."

"That is agreeable. How will you sleep tonight however?" She asked.

I opened up my pack and pulled out a small but reliable sleeping bag. "This" I said holding it up and unfolding it.

"This is agreeable." She said before laying down. I followed her to where she told me I could set the bag and unrolled it, then laid down.

"Tomorrow I think it's best that I go sort out my problems with Asuka." I said before turning out the light.

"That is agreeable. It will help efficiency in the field of battle." Rei responded lightly.

"Do you think about anything other than the Evangelions?" I asked. She stayed quiet for awhile and so I assumed she was asleep. I started to drift away when I thought I heard "I think about many things."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Thanks for everything Rei, but I need to go." I said looking at her from across the kitchen. She was sitting down in her chair reading a book.

"That is agreeable. I have enjoyed your company. Will you come back again at some point?" She asked, but never really took her eyes off of her book.

"Sure, I'll come again. Just invite if you ever feel lonely." I said before grabbing my bag and heading out the door. Rei whispered something but I decided not to push the issue when the door shut.

I started walking home, or the closest thing I had ever known as a home, that is until a certain redhead who summoned mixed emotions moved in. I could almost swear it was in one second me loving just being near her, the next downright hating every moment we had together.

"I'm back!" I shouted into the dark apartment. It looked as if no one had been in there since I left. I slowly headed toward the hallway before noticing that the sign Misato had made me was stuck on a new room. I didn't mind that much, I walked into the room and noticed that it was smaller, but much more my style. It was lacking in lighting other than a small window, but I was fine with that. I sat my bag into the room and walked into the kitchen. The only thing I found in there was Pen-Pen angrily warking. I noticed he had a beer in his flipper. "Sup? Oh." I said as I took the beer from him and opened it, then handed it back to him. He hugged my leg after receiving his beer. "What happened while I was gone?" I asked the bird. He led me to the trashcan that had the remains of the broken plate, then to Asuka's new room. He stood outside the door, pointed inside, then backed away slowly. I was about to ask what was wrong when the door slammed open and presented a very visibly upset Asuka. Her hair was disheveled and she was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday. Her eyes were puffy, like when someone cries, but no trails were on her face from tears. She looked as if she hadn't had much sleep either, and VERY PISSED OFF.

"Now you want to force the great Asuka Langley Soryu to pleasure you? Disgusting pervert." Were the first words out of her mouth.

"Are you still going on about that?" I groaned. It was already going to be a long day, I could tell just by the first ten minutes I was here.

"What are you doing here? Didn't you decide to get lost?" She hissed.

"I live here" then I muttered (for better or worse), "and I had a talk with someone who said that I should try to work things out here."

"I don't want to work things out. I want you to get lost and stay lost." She said venomously, meaning every part of it.

"Look, I am sorry alright. I don't understand why you are so pissed at me, so what if I didn't write you a goddamned love letter and stuff it into your locker? You got plenty of them, almost every guy from our class wrote one." I sighed.

"HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT I DIDN'T CARE WHAT THEY DID? HUH? MAYBE I JUST WANTED ONE FROM ONE SINGLE GUY! BUT NO, HE WOULDN'T WASTE THE TIME TO EVEN WRITE ONE!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

"WELL I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WANTED ME TO WRITE ONE!" I yelled back.

"I... I... never said it was you." She stuttered before adding "Stupid baka."

"Wait. Now I am confused again. Did you or did you not want a love letter from me?" I asked, honestly confused.

"Forget about it okay? Lets just forget about it..." She said staring off into space before adding, "Do you know how to cook? Misato had to leave after you last night, and I am hungry."

"I wouldn't let Misato cook anyway. If you ate her cooking, you are liable to be in a worse state than you are now." I joked.

"She hasn't learned to cook yet? Gott I thought it wouldn't take long after I lived with her in Germany." Asuka said. "AND WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT A BAD STATE?" She added after going over my words again.

"No offense, but you look like well, you look like you need a nice long shower." I finally said.

"You may be right. Anyway, you know how to cook or not? I am starving." She replied.

"I haven't eaten either, and yes I can cook us something, just go take a shower or something, I'll get started on food." I said before walking into the kitchen.

I headed back to my room for a second to grab my SDAT and turned it to track 15, Ode to Joy, the music filled the small kitchenette when I began to cook brunch. It consisted of mostly meat, I didn't have much else to work with. When Asuka walked into the kitchen she looked impressed.

"Looks fit for a queen." She said before sitting down and starting to shove the food into her mouth. I joined in once I put the last pieces of bacon on a plate.

The rest of the day was passed with blissfully no problems. Asuka mostly stayed in her room while I stayed in mine. That is until it was nearing nightfall and Asuka knocked on my door.

"What up?" I asked, finishing my forty-seventh sit up.

"Misato called. She won't be back until tomorrow, something at... she is out with somebody... I think it's Kaji." Asuka replied, sounding almost heartbroken.

It didn't take me long to catch on to her tone. "You really like him don't you?"

"He's a real man. He is the only one who really cared for me." She said quietly.

"And it doesn't bother you that he is twice your age?" I asked.

"I am incredibly well endowed for my age, not to mention mature. Much more mature that that Katsuragi whore anyway." Asuka's tone turned venomous, but not to me.

I didn't like her choice of words though. "Misato is not a whore. She is the only one who was willing to take you in, I know where they stuff the pilots that she doesn't take in, and trust me, it ain't pretty. I am also sure that Kaji got the option of taking you in when you got here, he probably refused though."

Her eyes widened then turned to slits, "Who the hell do you think you are?"

I walked to my door and opened it. She was staring straight into my eyes, unflinching, "Doesn't matter what I think, I know I am me, that is all that matters." I then walked into the kitchen and started making tea. Asuka hadn't moved far from my door, but didn't match my gaze again. "Want some?" I asked as I started it on to boil.

"I want you to answer a question." She finally seemed to decide what she was going to say. "Why don't you live with your father?"

"I don't have one, or much of one anyway. He left me to rot when I was four. My mother had just died and when I guess I needed him most, he dropped me off and said "You're useless. Grow a backbone." Only reason I am here is because he can use me to pilot the Eva, if I couldn't do that I would probably be somewhere else."

She faced the ground "So your mother is dead too."

"Had she been around I don't think much would have changed. She apparently worked for NERV, I still would have been sent off to do god knows what." I laughed for a change.

"So you haven't had anyone to you know, care for you?" She asked.

I looked toward the ceiling. "Depends on what you mean by care about me. I've had tutors I have seen like family members, but for the most part, I know the only person I can truly count on is myself. Whats with all the questions about my past? What about you, what was your life like in Germany?"

"My mother died when I was young, I got into the Eva program, haven't seen my father or stepmother in years, graduated college, came here to fight angels. That is all you need to know."

"So your pretty much in the same boat as me." I chuckled.

"Whats so funny?" She hissed.

"Many different paths people can take through life. Ours are close. You look for peoples approval and use that to bolster your ego. More outward than inward. I chose to become self-reliant and pretty much said "Fuck the human race." and sectioned myself off from everyone. More inward than outward. So alike yet so different."

"We are nothing alike. You don't know my history, you don't know why I do the things I do." She looked rather agitated.

"Then why do you pilot Eva?" I asked.

"Because I am the best at it." She answered.

"No, you pilot it because your attached to it. Imagine if it were taken away. What would you do then?"

"Doesn't matter. I am here now." She said. "What about you?"  
"Find another way to die." I said without a single sense of remorse.

"WHAT?" She yelled.

"Find another way to die. I really don't see much point in being here than I do anywhere else. I am just passing time between point A and point B."

"What about the people in your life? What are you going to do about them?"

"To be honest the only people I have in my life are You, Rei, Misato and Toji and Kensuke. I am sure most of them can manage if I died."

"Why do you even pilot then?" She asked, I looked down from the ceiling and straight into her bright blue eyes.

"Cause if I don't, someone else will have to. I can the accept the idea of dying for someone else, but I refuse to accept the idea of letting someone die for me if I can fight myself."

"So you will throw away your life for others but will not allow them to do the same for you?"

"Not really throwing it away. It's like this. I want to give everyone else a chance to do what they want, and I get what I want by fighting."

"And what is it you exactly want?" She asked still staring right into my eyes.

"I get to fulfill my baser instincts. To fight. I can die in peace. To become nothing but a force of nature."

"That's stupid. You're running away. You would rather become an animal then to face your problems."  
"You're one to talk. You want other people to decide who you are for you." I replied.

"Least I don't try to reduce myself to an unthinking animal."

"Who said animals don't think? Animals think more than people do. I don't see animals outright being cruel to one another for no other purpose than amusement."

"Your tea is boiling."

"Huh?" I asked still staring into her eyes, and finding my reflection in them. She walked closer to me.

"Your tea is boiling." It finally clicked in my head. I turned around and shut it off.

"Beauty and the Beast." Asuka said as she got out two tea glasses.

"Whats that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"A beautiful girl trying to understand a savage man with an above average level of intelligence." She said.

"There is a difference in intelligence and wisdom. I have one but not the other. I know why I do something, and how I feel. I can't use it to solve my problems though."

"You talk like you play DnD." Asuka laughed.

"Never played. It a video game? Haven't played many." I said.

"They have game adaptations of them. And how have you been brought up without video games?" She seemed actually surprised.

I thought for a second. "I spent most of my time outside or with the few books I had. I suck at using technology." We both laughed at the last part.

"You know Shinji, other than your inability to stop being a dick, you actually have potential."

"Potential for... You know what, Thank you. To be honest I would say that the only thing you are lacking is your sense of self."

"I think this enough philosophy for the night. I'm going to go to bed. You better not try anything perverted while I am sleeping." She said but hadn't moved an inch.

"Yeah, I think I am going to do the same." I said. We sat there for a good 5 minutes before we finally headed our separate ways.

End Chapter 7


	9. Chapter 8: Perpetual Annoyance

Chapter 8: Perpetual Annoyance

Gainax owns NGE. I do not, however I would love to. It would so quaint if I owned the series or at least a majority stock of them. Oh well, least I get to have my fun doing this.

A/N: Sorry if it seems to be on a day by day basis on this, I know it is getting a little long.

"Am I me? Am I someone else? Am I what people think of me? Or am I a beast?" The cloaked figure, clad in a dark shade, said in the darkness.

"Currently I think you a a figment of my imagination." I said to the man, this was annoying, I didn't need this right now.

"Look kid, you want a self realization or not?" The figure asked, looking annoyed.

I thought for a second, "Really don't care one way or another."

"You could at least you know, thank me for showing up in the first place. I mean, do you know how many people actually wonder what they think about themselves? You get a nice five minute conversation with your psyche." He said to me.

"Yeah, but I get them every time I walk into that Evangelion though, its like on a constant basis." I answered

"WRONG! You get split parts of your psyche. I am the manifestation of everything."

"So the form of my psyche is a cloaked man with a hood sitting in the darkness?" I asked.

"What? Oh, no, this isn't our true form. This is just the one I use for presentations." He said trying to look theatrical.

"This is getting nowhere." I sighed.

"Look, I can make this easy, or you can make this hard." The cloaked man said.

"What's the easy way?"

"I talk, you listen."

"Fine, go ahead and speak."

"Yo Baka, Wake up." The darkness behind the man said.

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" The cloaked man howled in anger.

"What was that?" I asked.

I felt as I hit the floor. Slamming my chest then back on the not so soft carpet floor.

"That'll wake you up." A red blur said.

The only noise I could make sounded more like a growl then anything else. Finally I picked myself up and looked at the other person in the room.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked Asuka who was freely standing in my room.

"You should be thanking me, it is not everyday the most beautiful girl in school wakes up a guy." She said with a smirk.

"Not to sound unthankful but, could you please not do it again?" I grumbled out.

"Well, now that you are awake, you can make breakfast. We have a sync test in an hour." She said as she walked out the door. I looked at the clock. 'I don't remember any sync test today.' I thought to myself.

"Hurry UP! I'm hungry!" Asuka's shrill voice resounded through the apartment. I slowly got the rest of the way up and headed to the bathroom to start my morning routine. After my shower I walked into the kitchen and started to cook some eggs and bacon.

"You done yet?" Asuka asked while I was still obviously cooking.

"No." I answered.

"Hurry up." She commanded.

"You know, you could have cooked your own breakfast." I said putting more bacon onto a plate.

"It is beneath the Great Asuka to cook." She said triumphantly.

"You don't know how." I said and watched her smile break. Her body language pretty much told me I was completely correct. She quickly got up and stood right next to me and ripped the cooking utensils out of my hands.

"It can't be that hard!" She said as she started trying to cook. I just sat down and watched. A few minutes passed as she was trying to cook. When she was finally finished she put the plates in front of her seat. "See? I can cook just fine!" She huffed.

I looked at the plates, then back at my coffee, then back to the food again, then back to my coffee. Both shared one common trait, one that should probably not be shared. Both were absolutely black. "Which one is the eggs and which is the bacon?" I asked. Both plates had nothing but black in them. Asuka shot up red.

"STUPID BAKA!" She yelled then threw one of the plates at me. I dodged to the left and watched as the plate rebounded against the wall, ash flying everywhere. Ever so slowly I walked over to one of the cupboards and pulled out two oranges, then took a knife out of the drawer and started to peel them. Asuka sized me up the whole time. I put the two oranges on a single plate and set them on the table, then took one for myself.

"You gonna eat or what?" I asked as I broke my orange to slices. She silently picked up the orange and broke off a slice and threw it into her mouth. She then took the rest of the orange and threw it at me. This time I dodged to the right.

Asuka picked up her hand, checked her nails then asked as if nothing had happened, "You know we don't have a sync test today right?"

What I said next took her by surprise. "I figured that out when you woke me up. I thought you just wanted the company." She nearly fell out of her chair. Point 3 I think for Ikari.

She slowly got out of her chair and walked over to the couch in the living room. She picked up the remote and sprawled herself right in front of the television. I then noticed all she had on was a yellow tank-top and a pair of extremely short cutoffs. Misato in the making. When I finally got up and started to wash the dishes (that were in the room, screw picking up the ones she threw) I felt as if a pair of holes were being bored into the back of my skull. I turned around and looked over at Asuka. She was still facing the television and looked as if she hadn't moved an inch.

Time passed with Asuka watching the tele and me doing whatever I felt like until Misato came home.

"I'm home!" Misato shouted into the small apartment. "Shinji come home yet? Or did you really piss him off enough to leave?" She growled at Asuka as soon as she came in the door.

"Why don't you just go ask him yourself you old hag." Asuka growled back. Still not taking her attention from the television.

"Hi Misato." I said from the kitchen. I had spent most of my day in the kitchen sharpening knives.

"Hi Shinji! When did you get home?" She asked.

"Yesterday." I replied.

Misato grinned. "SOOOOO you two were all alone. A boy and a girl. Acting angry at each other. All alone, for a whole day. Wonder what could have happened. No adult supervision."

Asuka screamed. "OLD PERVERTED JAPANESE HAG!"

I nearly stammered. "Me and Asuka didn't do nothing!" My words became twisted in my mouth.

"Didn't do nothing huh? Double Negative... SO WHAT DID YOU DO?" Misato's grin almost turned Cheshire.

"WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Asuka screamed again.

"Whatever!" Misato said happily while rolling her eyes.

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The next few days went with Asuka and I avoiding each other if possible. I didn't get actively participate, she did most of the avoiding. Misato spent most of her time at... ahem... NERV... though she didn't always show home sober.

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"No way Baka. I am not eating that shit." Asuka said, looking at the ruffage on her plate.

"Come on Asuka, it's a salad, I eat them all the time." I said.

"That's because you're are vegetarian, a crappy one at that, I've seen you eat meat." She said trying to blackmail me.

"Seeing as the only meat is raised in cages now, I don't really consider it meat. If I were going to eat meat, it NEEDS to be REAL. You know, like something I hunted down and killed?"

"Why are we even eating salad anyways, usually you prepare me and Misato something then just eat whatever you want." she said still looking down at the assortment of vegetables. "Because, you didn't want to have to dishes tonight because you were headed to Horaki's house. You told me don't cook a lot so I made a large bowl of salad." I answered.

"Yeah but you could have at least cooked something." she hung her head low and began to swallow her pride, "Fine, I'll eat it." I laughed as she stuck a fork into the raw veggies. "What? You got a better idea?" she smarted off.

"Hmm... well you see this bottle that I am holding? Yeah, it's called ranch, it makes the salad more palatable." I smarted back.

"Give it." She said as she reached over the table, snatching at the bottle.

"Asuka, that's not the proper way to conduct oneself at the dinner table." I said.

"Fuck you, this is not dinner, it's more like lunch. You know what? Fine, would you please give me the damn bottle of ranch so I may eat this meatless meal?" I handed her the bottle of ranch.

"Are the curse words necessary?" I asked honestly, she cursed like a sailor.

"Fuck off Baka." She said as she was eating.

After dishes she left the house. She was going to go see her (only) friend in Tokyo-3. It was kind of sad really. She would be so much better at making and keeping friends if she didn't demand to be worshiped then ignore her worshipers. I mostly ignored it though. Total apathy seemed about right for everything that didn't interest me. Rei and Asuka's first meeting was hilarious though. I could just replay those five minutes in my head. It was perfect. After observing Rei for four of so minutes, Rei finally got tired of being starred at and said, "Pilot Soryu I would prefer you would stop checking me out." Asuka blew a fuse, The classroom erupted in laughter. It was only with the class rep's intervention that people finally started to calm down.

God that's right. Rei. I hadn't tried to really talk to her after staying at her apartment. I still felt responsible. "IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII HATE YOU, THAT'S AN UNDERSTATEMENT." My phone was going off. When I answered Toji said the he and Kensuke wanted to go ahem... check out... some of the ruins of the pre-impact that were outside Tokyo-3. I said I would go but I had a condition, "May I bring someone along?"

"Hell no if it is the Red Head Youkai." Toji answered.

"Nah not her, she went over to the class rep's."

"Then sure, just make sure whoever it is has some supplies." With that I hung up and wrote Misato a note, "Dear Misato, went to have some fun, be back later."

I then called a number that I had no idea would work or not. "Hello?" I asked.

"Hello Pilot Ikari." Rei said.

"Hi Rei. I was wondering if you would like to do something fun."

"I would need a clearer definition on what you meant by fun."

"Well to be honest I was going to ask you if you wanted to go raid the pre-impact ruins in the area around Tokyo-3. Me and my friends are going to go see what we can scrounge up." I said as honestly as I could.

"This sounds agreeable." She said flatly over the line.

Finally I got the courage to say, "Cool, I'll be over in a few minutes. We might be gone for a while, anything in particular you want to eat?"

"I don't eat animals." She replied.

"Sure thing, that makes two of us." I said and chuckled as I made a few meals. "I'll be right over." With two days worth food and water packed just in case I headed out, first stop Rei's.

I knocked on the door. "Hello? Rei? You in there?" I asked. She opened the door. She was still in her school clothes but we were not going anywhere dangerous so I left it alone. "Rei, are you ready?" I asked.

"Yes." She said then we departed.

Rei and I walked for a long while until we met up with Kensuke and Toji, who just looked at me confused.

They pulled me away for a sec, "Uh, Rei?" they asked.

"Yeah, I invited her to go, she doesn't seem to get out much, I thought it would be good for her." I answered.

"Whatever man, but she is YOUR problem." Kensuke said putting emphasis on the your part.

"Fine." I said, no skin off my back.

We arrived to the edge of Tokyo-3 about an hour later. It took some hiking. I kept looking back at Rei to make sure she was okay. That girl was always perfectly indifferent to the things around us until she saw a small furry animal. "What is that?" She asked showing a bit of curiosity. Toji and Kensuke were way ahead already so I felt free.

"From here it looks like a raccoon." I made an educated guess.

"Raccoon?" She asked again.

"It's an animal from the US. They spread out pretty well across urban and forested areas." I set the pack down and pulled out a small granola bar, splitting it in half I gave one to Rei and kept one to myself. "Watch." I slowly approached the small animal. It seemed frightened as I got close to it but I noticed it's foot was stuck in a small snare. Being completely silent I set the food in front of the small raccoon. It seemed to be just a pup or whatever you call a baby raccoon. It took the food and ate it then seemed much happier. Rei came closer and did the same. The pup seemed to take a liking to Rei as it stopped trying to escape from the area. I slowly got behind the small raccoon and untied the end of the snare from a nearby tree. I then pulled the raccoon close and noticed it seemed to be calm. I slowly removed the snare while the little guy was in my hands. Once it was removed raccoon clutched on my coat. It was cute. I then walked back over to Rei, her wide eyed from this little creature she had never seen before. I dislodged the raccoon and held him in my arms, not even a second later the raccoon jumped on Rei.

"Is it safe?" she asked, looking rather shocked for her.

"I have a feeling that little guy is as dangerous as a floor mat." I chuckled. She seemed relieved. She then began to stroke it's fur. "Look, Uh, Rei, I don't think you can keep it. It is a wild animal."

"The raccoon is female." She said matter of factually.

"What? Oh, Okay, I don't think you can keep HER. Better?" I asked.

"I cannot just drop her." was the response I got.

"Fine, but she is your responsibility," feeling the Deja Vu in my head.

By the time we caught up to Kensuke in Toji it was nearly dusk. Toji began to say, "We got to move -WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?" He pointed to the little raccoon.

"It is a raccoon." Rei replied.

"I would leave the subject alone." I added in a few moments later.

"Okay, one question then." Kensuke said, "WHERE THE FUCK DID SHE FIND A BABY RACCOON?" he then asked.

"Pilot Ikari saved it from a trap." She answered.

After the minute or so of silence I finally spoke up, "So we doing this or what?"

"Oh yeah, sure." Toji said still staring at the small marsupial.

After about an hour of exploring the old town we had broken into three or four old stores. Toji and Kensuke kept breaking into old video stores. Whatever they were looking for they seemed disappointed on not finding anything.

I found an old clothing store that had Pre-Impact clothing I noticed Rei's school clothes. "Hey Rei, while we are here do you want to pickup some new clothes?" I asked.

"What is wrong with my current clothing?" she asked.

"Well, they are not really suited for our current activities."

"Then what would you recommend?" She asked.

"I would recommend a pair of actual shoes, maybe some pants, and jacket, to be honest." Looking around she found a white pair of leather sneakers that looked more like boots. She found a few pairs of white jeans, then looked around until she found a white jacket. In contrast she looked almost completely opposite to me. I was surprised she found it all in her size, the jacket maybe one or two sizes too big.

"Would this be satisfactory?" she asked after she returned from the changing room (after explaining again why she couldn't change in front of me).

"You look really good." I admitted. "I think it would work fine for this."

Kensuke and Toji were still busy breaking into random stores. I asked her what she would like to find. She didn't have much opinion on them but seemed to keep drifting back to a book store. Slowly but surely I think I got an idea. I took out my crowbar that I had been storing in the bag and broke open the door. We walked inside. The lights didn't work but that didn't stop the flashlights I had packed. This place was a small library into itself. She seemed to be as enthralled as I was. She stayed near me until I told her she might go find stuff she liked. I handed her a book bag, "I thought you might find some things you liked so I brought you a bag just in case."

She slowly took the bag and answered, "Isn't this stealing?"

"Nah, it's more like putting it to use. This stuff has been sitting here for years, most of it is older than us, this place was abandoned after the second impact."

"This is agreeable." She answered.

I kept looking around until I found a box set of all of Nine Inch Nail's albums. I found a small computer that could turn the songs into mp3s. I found a set of like 20 MP3 players. I took them all, they may be pre-impact but they all run off of replaceable batteries. I then looked for books. After I found some books I liked (Tao Te Ching, Art of Peace, Hagakure, and the like) I was happy. "Hey Rei, you okay?" I called out into the store, I hadn't seen her in a while.

"I am fine Pilot Ikari." Then I noticed that she was holding a full bag. Her new raccoon still attached to her new jacket. For once she seemed to happy, and not going straight with the flow.

We got back into Tokyo-3 about 2 a.m. Toji and Kensuke both headed to Toji's house apparently happy with their catch. I knew better, I figured out long ago what they found. I walked Rei home actually seeing her smile. Even if she didn't remember everything else I was happy, she seemed to be happy. When we finally got to her house I congratulated her. She seemed delighted when her small raccoon jumped up and ran straight to the bed. "I think you found a new pet."

"I have never owned a pet before." she replied, I think worried.

"Don't sweat it, just make sure it is fed and watered, this little girl can probably take care of herself." I said.

"Thank you Shinji." She said.

"Oh it's no pro ~ Wait, what did you just call me?" I asked.

"I called you Shinji, you have been calling me by my first name. I thought I would return the favor. Do you not want me to?" She asked.

"It's fine." I replied.

"Well, I got to go home now, have a nice morning Rei." With that I showed myself to the door. I slowly headed home, to what I believed was an empty house.

I walked into the door and was immediately surprised. "Um, Asuka?"

"huh?" she replied, she was almost completely asleep.

"ASUKA WAKE UP. WHY ARE YOU SLEEPING ON THE COUCH, BETTER YET, WHY ARE YOU ONLY IN YOUR UNDERGARMENTS?" I started freaking out.

She woke up a little, "I thought you were out? Me and Hikari got wasted and I ended up here, I couldn't figure out the air conditioner," she fully woke up after this, "PERVERT, WHY ARE YOU STARING?"

"I CAN'T HELP IT, I MEAN, WHY AREN'T YOU IN YOUR ROOM?" I was still freaking.

"BECAUSE IT GOT SO HOT IN THERE." She quickly said.

I turned around. "Well, you should start feeling cold now, I got to get to my room."

She quickly got redressed then finally said, "Where were you?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I looked for you when I got home. You were not here." She said firmly.

"I was hanging out with a few friends." I answered honestly.

"So, you went out with a few friends huh? Like who in particular?" She was studying me, analyzing my answers.

"Toji, Kensuke, and Rei." I answered.

At this her anger flared. "YOU WERE OUT WITH HER?" she exclaimed.

"Uh, Yeah, I thought she might want to do something outside of her house." I replied shocked, not expecting the amount of outrage pouring from this protesting girl.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU INVITE ME?" She looked shocked when she realized what she just said, just as shocked as I felt.

"I didn't know you would want to go. You went over to Horaki's house. I figured you wanted some girl time." I said.

"Me and Horaki had a fight." she said with her up most honesty. "We couldn't agree on something."

"I am going to guess it has to do with her crush on Toji?" I asked.

She looked shocked she paused for a second."How did you know?" She sounded a little dishonest.

"Cause I might or might not have teased her about it, for a time I thought she liked me but that was quickly solved after a few weeks." I replied.

"Uh, Shinji, I am going to go to bed now, have a nice night." She said as she walked out.

'God this girl is bipolar.' I walked to my room and dropped my spoils. Then laid down, not even a minute later I was out.

The next morning I woke up with a start. After situating my loot I was happy. I got up and took a shower. Then started cooking breakfast. I woke up Asuka, then headed to Misato's room. I knocked on her door, no answer, I opened her door. It looked like she had abandoned it. "ASUKA, WE HAVE A PROBLEM." I started thinking about all the worse possibilities.

"What is it Baka?" she asked.

"Uh Misato never came home last night." I answered. I knew for a fact that she didn't have work last night.

"Yeah that... She had a date with Kaji." Asuka looked very displeased. "Last time we talked about this bad things happened. I am going to guess that scar still runs deep." I said.

"Not so much anymore, he pretty much abandoned me for her as soon as he got here." She replied. "It's not like we did anything anyways." she quickly blurted out.

The day passed slowly, when Misato got home we both had fun picking and prying. After about an hour after she got home she got a call on the emergency phone.

"Looks like another angel." Misato said as she pulled us down to the car. Both me and Asuka were overjoyed at the possibility of alleviating a little boredom. Once we got to NERV we were separated. I went to the guy's changing room and got on my plug suit then waited in my Eva for launch.

"You and Asuka will be leading the assault against the angel. Unit 00 is still being rebuilt. Rei will be watching from the Command Center. Asuka's Unit 02 started up with no problems.

Mine just sat still. "Uh, something is wrong with Unit 01." I yelled.

"Shinji, your sync ratio is under 30%." said Dr. Ritsuko.

"Well how do I fix that huh?" I asked semi peeved.

"You don't seem to be in the right mindset." She replied.

"How is this wrong? I feel completely at peace right now." I said with a little anger in my voice.

"Shinji, your sync ratio just jumped to 60%, keep doing that." Dr. Ritsuko exclaimed.

"OH THATS HOW THIS WORKS." I started to think about how I wanted so badly to be free, to kill indiscriminately, to destroy anything that got in my path, how good it would feel to rip the angel apart and feast upon it again.

"Shinji, your sync ratio is at 160%. You are above your average!" Dr. Ritsuko yelled sounding shocked.

"160?" Asuka asked.

My mind started syncing with the actual Eva. "You want it don't you?" I asked. "You want to feel free again, to taste the blood on your tongue? YOU WANT IT?" With that I was returned to the world. My Eva began to growl. Then it roared.

"UNIT 01 LAUNCH" Misato yelled. I was in enough euphoria that I didn't notice anything around me other than the angel. The other unit had launched but I didn't even know she was here. I had no weapons other than my bare hands and the prog knife I was always given.

"I CALL THE KILL!" Asuka yelled gleefully as she charged the angel with her glaive/spear thing. She sliced it in half then it split. The gray humanoid turned each half changed from gray. One turned an orange color, the other a low purple. Asuka kicked off the angel and tried to swipe at it again, to no avail. She was pushed back from the angel and smacked into a building. I began to get more pissed, I think the ground started shaking. I picked up a large pipe, or building support, I thought, and began to use it as a makeshift bokken. The angels began to surround me. The other was about to flank me when Asuka stabbed it with her prog spear. I stabbed one of the angels with my knife, then got thrown by the one Asuka stabbed.

One of the angels landed right in front of me. I noticed my knife sticking out it's back. I grabbed it and pulled up opening a hole near the core and took the makeshift katana and shoved it right through the core. One of the angels was down, or at least I thought. The other one grabbed onto my back and began to fuse. I was getting fused into them when Asuka ripped me out and a blast shield raised. The next thing I knew an N2 was dropped upon the angel causing the process to slow. I noticed I could no longer move. "Pilot Ikari, it would be best not to move." Rei said from the Command Center.

"You have whatever the fuck that thing is impaled through your stomach." Asuka then added.

I was still in my high, I didn't understand what they were saying much less care. "I can't hold on to him much longer." Asuka announced over the radio.

"Raise the pressure inside the plug. Make him pass out." Dr. Ritsuko was yelling. Not understanding or caring I got loose and began to rush the angel when my body began shutting down, the synapses in my head shutting down one by one.

"I WILL KILL YOU, I WILL RIP YOU TO SHREDS AND EAT YOUR CORPSE." then blackness.

End Chapter 8


	10. Interjection: Second Break

Chapter ?:

A/N: Feel free to skip Intermissions, they have nothing to do with the story, they are just prompts that I write a little about for fun, then use them for breaks in the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own NGE or anything about it. I do however thank Gainax for giving us the series.

"Come on Wonder-girl, it will be good for you." Asuka said as she dragged Rei into the changing room. Rei did not feel like moving or being near Asuka, much less "hanging out" with her.

"Pilot Sohryu, I do not wish to spend my time tanning outside." Rei replied, nonchalant.

"Come on, it can not be that bad! You need to hang out with girls more often" Asuka then shoved Rei into changing room, finally getting her to budge. Making sure Rei changed into her swimming wear, Asuka did the same.

"I would still prefer to stay inside. This is not going to be comfortable." Rei said in monotone, but a deeper one, showing a bit of resentment.

Asuka would have none of that. She quickly went over to Rei and zipped up the albino girl's one piece swim suit. "

"Doesn't the sun feel good Rei?" Asuka was sitting on a nice beach, red hair splayed out against her towel, watching the Geofront's man made lake, waves moving back and forth. "See, this is what I was talking about, you never get out, you never talk to anyone, save that Baka. You need girl time."

Rei was sitting with her legs against her chest, her bright blue hair sticking to her shoulders and neck due to the water. "Pilot Soryu, I do not wish to offend you, but this is not very agreeable."

"You need to relax Wonder-girl." Asuka said with a smirk, kicking her legs straight up, then rolling into a standing position.

"I do believe you are testing my patience Asuka." Rei said, looking over to her red-headed ally.

"Okay, you want me to cut to the chase? How do you feel about the idiot?" Asuka said, looking away from Rei, and into the lake.

"I am attracted the one you called idiot. Physically I do not know, on an emotional level, I want to spend more time with him to understand the feelings further." Rei answered staring at Asuka, waiting for her reaction.

Asuka looked straight into Rei's eyes. Searching for a hint of untruth. "WHAT?" Was her monosyllable reply.

"May I take it as you also have these feelings for Pilot Ikari? Wanting to know him better, to try to understand him. Maybe spend time with him. It is what I want. What about you?" Rei asked with what some would identify as a small grin. In her mind however, she was laughing harder than she ever had before, just imagining what Asuka's reaction could be.

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE SHITTING ME!" Asuka yelled, then stomped her feet into the ground in disbelief.

"I do not believe I understand what you are asking." Rei said in a nonchalant tone, though grinning all the while inside her head, waiting for Asuka to take the bait.

"I was just testing you." Asuka said trying to calm down, but failing harshly. She finally sat back down but the bait had already been taken, much to Rei's enjoyment.

Rei smiled completely before answering, "A technician once tried to test me, I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."

Asuka shivered, the way Rei had said it, it brought all sorts of chills down her spine. The image appeared in her head, Rei, sitting at a table, properly set, with a nice cut of liver in front of her and a glass of wine. The fava beans and liver slightly steaming from the fresh cooking. Asuka shivered again. "Did- Did you really eat someone's liver?" She asked once she collected herself.

Rei looked into Asuka's ocean blue eyes. "Look up the medical records of the staff if you disbelieve me. I am sure you will find what you are looking for in their. Though, don't get caught, it might look very, very naughty if you were to get caught." Line cast, Rei waited, looking as she did regularly. She had access to the medical files, and had a fake one for the people at NERV who did stoop. She would just change it before Asuka looked.

"I think I want to head inside now. Feel free to stay here if you want." Rei said whilst getting up. She had work to do, oh so much work. She could not wait until Asuka saw the changed files, and tried to prove it. She then got up and went into the changing room, and switched back to her school clothes.

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	11. Chapter 9: Do I dream of Killer Sheep?

Chapter 9: Do I dream of Killer Sheep?

Disclaimer: Gainax warning, they own everything.

Waking up, once again, I was in the hospital, staring at an all to familiar ceiling. "You know, I have a feeling I have been in here more than any other patient." I joked to myself. I couldn't fully open my eyes yet, the light was too bright.

"THE BAKA IS AWAKE!" Asuka shouted, much to loudly. Opening my eyes and trying to escape before shit hit the fan I tried to get up, noticing I was strapped down to the bed.

"Oh what the fuck?" I asked myself.

"Pilot Shinji, you cannot move. Your wounds may reopen." Rei said.

I finally looked up, "Sup." I said to both the girls in the room.

"Baka, you're a fucking moron. Next time you do something like that I will personally kill you myself. Slow and painful, happily too." Asuka said with (what I thought was) relief.

"Er... Thanks?" Looking up to her. 'Has she been crying?' I thought to myself after noticing her face. "I am going to guess I worried you?" I half joked.

"Baka." Was the response. Looking at Rei then I noticed her "pet" was in her arms.

"Your wounds were almost fatal." Rei said, unimpressed with me, probably more pissed than she let on.

"Look, I don't know what you are talking about. I can't even move to check." I replied. She undid the straps holding me down. I noticed I had everything but a shirt on. Looking down I saw a large bandage right under where my heart would be. "Er... What the fuck is this?" I asked.

"You suffered critical damage while in the Eva. The stimuli to the Eva caused it." Rei said.

"Okay, that doesn't explain why there is a giant bandage attached to my chest though." I replied.

"BAKA, YOUR DUMBASS TACTIC ALMOST KILLED YOU, YOU WERE IMPALED BY THE POLE." Asuka finally said looking pissed. (better than her crying.)

"Er what?" I asked kind of shocked.

"YOU. WERE. IMPALED. ON. A. DAMNED. POLE." She said again.

"Okay... um... Why was I strapped down then?" I asked.

"You were to be considered dangerous," Rei started, "the doctor's who performed the operation had to triple the dose of sedatives then had to add a paralytic when you would not calm down after you woke up the first time."

I was truly shocked at that last comment. "I was awake before?" I asked.

"Yes, when they pulled you from the entry plug you woke up, you then proceed to attack the security personnel and the team assigned to get you out of the plug." Rei answered.

"Um, okay, can someone please tell me WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED OUT THERE?" I began to freak out. "I MEAN, I APPARENTLY HAVE A HOLE GOING THROUGH MY CHEST FROM SOMETHING THAT NEVER TOUCHED THE ENTRY PLUG, HAVE NO MEMORY AFTER ATTACKING THE ANGELS, THEM SPLITTING AND ME PICKING UP A POLE WHICH I WAS APPARENTLY IMPALED UPON."

"Baka." Asuka once again repeated.

Rei then began to answer my question, "You flew into a rage and attacked the angels. After they split you just kept attacking until Asuka was deemed necessary to rescue you. After they began to fuse with you, you were impaled by the angel you had just shoved the makeshift spear through. She pulled you out and they dropped an N2 bomb over head neutralizing the threat for now. You however pulled away after the bomb exploded and rushed the angel before they could pressurize the entry plug to make you pass out."

"So we won?" I asked not fully understanding.

"No BAKA, WE did NOT win, YOU almost KILLED YOURSELF." Asuka said.

After a few more minutes of this Misato finally walked in. She began to scorn me for not following orders and then started crying. She finally explained to me what the doctors did. "They had to stop the internal bleeding along with the amount of adrenaline you were producing. They had to fully paralyze your body then cauterized around the wound. You were lucky to even survive, the doctor said even if you did he had no honest idea if you would ever wake up out of the sleep that they had to induce to even work on you." Misato said with a frown.

I took this all in good stride, but then remembered there was still a threat lurking right outside. Everyone was in danger. "So, how are we going to destroy the angel?" I asked not knowing the can of worms that I was about to open up.

"YOU ARE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING." Asuka started shrieking, "YOU ARE GOING TO STAY RIGHT HERE." She said before punching me in the chest as hard as she could, then ran out of the room.

Still recovering from the blow I finally got enough air to ask, "What is her problem?"

Rei then left the room, Misato the only one staying behind. "Shinji, you worried her, when she got the news that it might be impossible to save your life she never stopped crying. She thought that it was her fault that you were going to die. She thought it was her fault when she watched the video of her causing the angel to split." Misato said with a comforting tone. "She and Rei have been here since you got out of the operating room. You are extremely lucky to even to be awake right now. The MAGI said even with the operation that there was only a 15% chance that you would live past the night."

"How long was I out?" I asked puzzled.

"Fourteen hours." She answered.

"Oh." was all I could manage.

"I have got to go make another plan. Can't stay here too long, I'll come visit when I can. You are going to have to stay here for a while." Misato said as she was getting up. She then left and closed my door. I figured that all I needed was a good night of rest, so I went to sleep.

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The next morning I woke up and got dressed. I was going to check out from this damned place.

I was not allowed to leave the hospital, and was told I wouldn't be released for another four days even if I was lucky. I was still in critical condition. My internal bleeding could start up at any time apparently. "Critical my ass!" I said when the doctor said two more days minimum when I convinced him that four days was too long. "We only got six to kill the angel, at this rate I will have a few days after I get out of here." I was then dismissed back to my room. The only people that had visited me since yesterday were the various doctors and Misato. Asuka nor Rei had visited me since I woke up, though I figured that they had other things to do, especially with the angel. Misato did come to visit though.

Sitting on my bed I was trying to wait the day out. I opened my eyes when I heard the door squeaking open. In came Misato, tired and haggard looking.

"Hi Misato." I said looking at her.

"Hi Shinji, how are you doing?" She asked.

"Well enough, bored out of my mind." I answered.

"So, how are they?" I asked Misato.

"Er... Good." She answered seemingly avoiding the question.

"Misato, I have a feeling you are lying to me." I said.

"Well, I was not supposed to tell you but I will anyway, not like you can do much stuck here anyway." She said. "You aren't going to help in the next battle," (this I already predicted) "not only that but they are thinking about stripping you from piloting."

"WHAT?" I asked surprised, that was not as planned.

"I'm not done yet." She said then continued, "Rei and Asuka are going through sync training to kill the angel, it's not going very well."

"Okay, now what was that about ME NO LONGER GETTING TO PILOT UNIT 01?" Still visibly disturbed about the prospect.

"Shinji, please understand, out of the last few times you have piloted the Eva, you have only not ended up in the hospital once. This is worrying to us all, not to mention that Unit 01 seems to have some issues now, the controls will no longer even activate for anyone, not even Rei or Asuka, which is even more worrying." Misato said, trying to calm me down.

Calming down a bit and trying to formulate a plan, "So, Unit 01 will only sync with me huh?" I asked trying to hide the plan.

"So far." She said with a frown.

"So, out of all the Pilots, y'all are thinking of firing the one with the most actual combat experience?" I said, then added, "I don't think that is a very wise idea seeing as it cripples the defense we have around here."

"I don't know if you can really put it that way Shinji, every time you have gotten into the Eva, except once, you ended up here, not to mention the untold millions of dollars of damage you are known to cause to the city." She said.

'Damn, I had never thought that would enter my list of issues, especially when saving the world.' I thought to myself. "I mean the last time you were out there you costed nearly 1.4 million American dollars to fix everything. You completely disabled Tokyo-3's phone network not to mention the buildings you destroyed while trying to kill the angel." She added.

"What about my father?" I hated the fact I was now relying on him to get me back to my Eva.

"He hasn't been here for weeks actually. He has been traveling lately trying to solve some funding issues I think." She said.

I waited till late that night. I had spent the last few days figuring out the layout of the hospital and made a plan. I was going to get out of here. Slowly I got out of bed, I changed back into my normal clothes and put on my jacket. It felt so good to be back to normal other than the pain in my chest every once in a while but I was assured that it would go away in a few days. I checked the halls, empty, 'good', I began to walk towards the elevator and once I got in hit the ground level button. Once the door opened I found my way to the car parking. Slowly waiting till the guard was distracted I walked outside. For the first time in days I got fresh air, it might have been night but the plan was working so far. I started walking towards home, I did not have my phone, I had left it at home the day of the attack and I was sure it was still there. Home was only a two hour walk anyway.

"Nearly there" I muttered to myself, happy to see it in the distance. "Oh shit what will I do when I get there?" I said to myself, I forgot to think that far ahead. 'It's the weekend (I think), Misato was still in the Geofront asleep when I left and Asuka is probably already asleep' I thought to myself. I walked into the house, not announcing my presence then went into my room, I couldn't see shit but I was happy to finally be back in here.

I was about to lay down when I heard a pistol cock and heard "FREEZE." Asuka yelled.

Something inside the room stirred and I was attacked by a small animal. "WHAT THE FUCK?" I yelled when it began to bite my boot.

"Pilot Shinji?" I heard from the direction of my bed, which didn't sound right when I ran it through my head.

"REI?" I was thoroughly confused.

"BAKA?" Asuka yelled.

"Okay what the fuck is going on here." I demanded an explanation, "AND WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU GET A GUN?"

"Uh... I stole it from Misato's room when she ~ Wait a minute, HOW ARE YOU HERE?" was the answer I got.

"That is an interesting point Pilot Ikari. How are you here?" Rei asked, actually showing full interest.

"Drop it already little miss perfect. His name is Shinji." Asuka said.

"You call him Baka, is that not an honorary title?" Rei asked.

"I call him Baka because he is one." Asuka replied.

"He is also a Pilot, therefore calling him Pilot Ikari is correct as well, or would you rather me call him Shinji?" Rei asked.

"I... UM... HOW THE HELL ARE YOU HERE?" She finally redirected the conversation back to me.

"I snuck out. The hospital sucks, plus there was nothing to do there, and I wanted to see if y'all were okay." I answered honestly.

"You need not worry about us Pilot ~ Shinji." Rei said.

Then Asuka added in, "Yeah, we are doing just peachy with this sync crap."

"It is not my fault we are always failing."

"It's not my fault you don't have the ability to think outside of orders."

"We are doing this to defeat the angel correct?"

"Yeah, but it's not my fault that you can't follow my footsteps."

"Maybe I could if they were less erratic, but I do not see that happening with you being lead."

"When you were leading we barely progressed, at least we have some here."

I waited till they were almost at blows. "So, Rei, what are you doing in my room?" Both of them distracted for a sec.

"I was ordered to live with Pilot Soryu, I mean Asuka, so that we could try to synchronize with each other. The angel cannot survive if both halves cores are destroyed at the same time." She answered.

"Yeah but Wonder-girl over there can't seem to keep up with me." Asuka said with a grin.

"So let me get this straight. You are both here trying to sync with each other, and failing at it, while I was in the hospital being bored?" I asked, rather amused at the idea.

"To be honest. Yes." Rei said. "I will gather up my things and move to the couch." She then added.

"No, you stay here, I'll move to the couch, can you please call the raccoon off now?" I said.

"Pila, stop that." she said to the raccoon.

"Thanks," I said and headed off the direction to the living room. Passing by the kitchen I noticed it was a mess, "I'll deal with it tomorrow." I said and laid down on the couch.

"Shinji?" Asuka walked into the living room, still in her nightdress.

"Yeah Asuka?" I replied.

"I am happy your home now." She said then quickly ran back to her room. I laid down and passed out.

I was woken up by being slapped. "FOR CHRIST'S SAKE! Oh shit, HI MISATO." I said as I woke up with a start.

"SHINJI. WHY? HOW? WHEN? HOW THE HELL DID YOU MANAGE TO ESCAPE?" She said stilled very visibly pissed.

"Er... I snuck out." was all I could manage.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG WE SEARCHED FOR YOU?" She stammered.

"I would say about an hour or two, after you looked in the Eva and didn't find me I was sure you would figure that I had come here." I answered.

Her phone then started ringing. "Yeah, I found him, he is here." She said then hung up.

"You are in so much shit when I have the time to actually punish you. Right now I have bigger fish to fry." Misato said. I looked at the clock, it was 6 am.

I began to get up and went into the kitchen. "Back to doing chores, better than doing nothing though." I said as I started doing the dishes. After that was done I began to cook breakfast. "Asuka probably will want meat and eggs." I said then started frying bacon and eggs.

"I don't know what Rei will want but I think she will eat whatever I will." I said remembering she was a vegetarian kinda like me. A few minutes later I had the table set, Asuka and Misato were having bacon and eggs, a beer set out for Misato, another for Pen Pen even though he seemed to already be awake and hugged me, coffee made, (though mostly I was the only one to drink it in this household) and enough pancakes for everyone who wanted some. I also got out the maple syrup, and the rest of the condiments. I then went around the house rousing everyone from their sleep. "Asuka, Rei, BREAKFAST." I thought that would work. They all seemed slightly groggy.

"REAL FOOD?" Asuka seemed to be in heaven at that moment.

Rei noticing Asuka's bliss but not aware of her delight, "Asuka, is something wrong? You seem to be in shock."

"No more of Misato's mystery surprise." Asuka looking grateful.

"I do not understand." Rei then added. I showed Rei to a seat, she was still confused. Asuka knew her seat and sat down immediately ready to dig in. Misato came in after taking a shower and finally took her seat.

I sat down and finally said, "Dig in."

With Asuka and Misato started ripping into the eggs and meat, Rei still seemed confused so I placed a pancake on her plate. "What is this?" She asked.

"Don't worry, it doesn't have meat in it, its a pancake." I assured her it was safe.

Pila then jumped off her back and onto the table. "HEY NO WILD ANIMALS AT THE TABLE." Asuka said with her mouth full.

"If that is the rule I would ask you to leave Asuka." Rei then shot her a glare.

Misato started laughing, "Even with Shinji here can y'all not agree on anything?"

"It's not my fault Wonder-girl can't keep up." Asuka said.

"It is not my fault you are so difficult to get along with." Rei then responded.

"Would both of you knock it off? First day out of the hospital and I am already regretting breaking out." I finally said.

"Sorry." Both of them said in unison.

"Now that is a start." Misato laughed again.

After cleaning up Rei and Asuka began working on synchronizing. Matching dance uniforms and a dancing game on the tv. It was hilarious to watch. To be honest I thought it would never work. Rei's movements seemed measured and precise where Asuka would just be all over the place. 'They do look really good in those matching tights though...' As soon as that thought hit my mind I froze. Finally remembering what I was thinking before that, "I got an idea." I said.

"Oh yeah, like anything you say can possibly help us." Asuka said in a sarcastic tone as they were taking a break.

"I remember you saying earlier how much easier it would be if we just had Shinji back." Rei took a swig from her water bottle then said.

Asuka went up in shades of red. "YOU THOUGHT THE SAME THING, YOU EVEN TOOK HIS ROOM AND CLOTHES!" Asuka said as a comeback.

"So? At least I can admit it openly if asked." Rei replied. I then shot up several shades of red too.

"Uh. Well. As I was saying, I think y'all need to go try Kendo or some other sparring sport."

"Why?" Asuka then asked.

"Kendo is not just about practicing fighting you know, they help with coriagraphy." I said.

"That's an excellent idea." Misato said.

"I actually know of someone who can help right now!" A phone call later and a ten minute drive and we arrived to a closed dojo.

"Er. Misato, no offense but this place is closed." Asuka said. Less then a minute later a black car drove up behind us and out jumped Aoba, the crazy metal head from work. I really didn't think that I would see him here.

"Sup?" I asked him.

"You with the captain?" He asked back.

"Yeah" I answered.

"Good." He replied. After a few minutes of talking he said he was off today and he didn't want to take long. He also said his father owned the dojo and gave us the okay to use it if it would help.

"Thanks for you help." Misato yelled as he left. We grabbed a few shinai and actual bokken. We then found a few sets of practice armor and took those. Knowing that no one was going to pay for this stuff I set down a wad of cash on the counter as we left.

When we returned to the apartment, Misato had them put on the equipment and get ready. "Okay, both of you will be using shinai for now." She said. Two hours passed, neither Asuka or Rei slowing down or stopping. "Wow, y'all really seem into this." Misato said surprised after watching them for the two hours.

Asuka then said, "Of course I am, I've wanted to do worse than this all week." Rei then smacked Asuka's helmet with her shinai. "NOT FAIR." Asuka yelled then started to go back to sparring with Rei.

"It is not my fault you were distracted." Rei then said while trying to dodge Asuka's attacks. Pila was cuddled up on my lap, seeming perfectly happy. When they were finally tired I noticed that both Asuka and Rei were extremely satisfied with the damage they caused each other.

"Congratulations" Misato then said. "I think we found a way this can work."

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"If you have missed him to the degree you keep saying you have, why do you not go help him in the kitchen?" Rei asked Asuka. Both were in the living room, Rei sitting on the couch and Asuka on the floor. Neither seemed to notice that I was actually listening.

"IF YOU MISSED HIM SO MUCH WHY DON'T YOU GO TO THE KITCHEN!" Asuka yelled back.

"I do not have the necessary culinary skills to make edible food." Rei answered reading a book about philosophy.

"Why can't you talk like a normal girl huh?" Asuka said while watching the television.

"I do not believe I asked your opinion on my vocal skills." Rei said snapping the book shut.

"Great! Now I am getting told off by a doll. First I take credit for a kill that's not mine by a boy I can't understand. Then I almost get him killed. Then I get told off by a doll. JUST GREAT!" Asuka was getting angry.

I quickly spoke up. "That was not your fault." I said into the living room.

"STUPID BAKA! YOU COULD HAVE DIED! I CHARGED THE ANGEL! I SHOULD HAVE WAITED FOR ORDERS BUT NO! I HAD TO TRY TO IMPRESS EVERYBODY! IT ALMOST COST THE ONLY LIFE THAT I WAS TRULY RESPONSIBLE FOR!" She screamed.

"Did I ever blame you?" I asked calmly. She froze on the spot.

"what?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Did I ever once blame you? Me getting hurt was my own fault. I should have known better than to do what I did. I should be apologizing to you. The battle obviously meant a lot to you." I said, cutting a few veggies.

"I... Think it is best that I go back to my room. Call me when dinner is ready, k?" Asuka said.

"Sure thing." I said. As she walked past I put my hand on her shoulder then took it off. She looked much better than when she almost started crying.

I then glanced over to Rei. "She been like this the whole time I was gone?"

"It has been less than pleasant." Rei said.

"I didn't know she would worry that much about me. I don't think we have gone a single day without fighting." I admitted.

"Pilot Soryu's feeling for you are complicated. She needs time to fully understand them."

"Rei, As much as I hate to admit it, I understand every word you're saying but they still feel as though they are flying way over my head."

"I apologize." Was all she said. I got up and headed back to the kitchen.

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"Dinner!" I called into the apartment. Rei slowly moved from the couch, not to disturb Pila, and came into the kitchen. Misato did the same.

"Asuka not eating?" Misato asked as she sat down to the table.

"I'll go check." I said before walking into the hallway. I knocked on her door, but got no response. "Hey, Asuka, dinner." I said in a rather hushed tone. Something didn't feel quite right. I slowly opened her door and looked inside. She was sitting in a corner with her legs drawn up to her and her head down between them. I entered the bedroom then shut the door quietly. "Asuka?" I walked over to her. She didn't move. Finally I decided to sit down beside her. Her back rose up regularly so I knew she was breathing. When I had enough of the silence I gently grabbed her shoulder and pushed up. What I saw was rather frightening. Her face was a mess, she looked like she had been crying, heavily.

Alarms started to go off in my head, I should back off now, danger, danger. "Asuka whats wrong?" I sounded more concerned than I usually let on.

"I broke my promise. I promised I would never cry again but here I am bawling like a school girl. It just feels so right, but I feel so wrong doing it." She finally answered with a whimper.

Slowly I put my arm around her. "Is this because of the battle?" I asked, memory still on the fight.

"You could've died. Then I'd be all alone again, and it would be my fault. I thought I would never ever have to rely on anyone else, or have anyone rely on me. You saved me from dying on the ship, and then gave me the credit for the fight. It was the greatest gift anyone had ever given me. Then when we went to school, all I could think about was the fact that out of all the guys who tried for me, you didn't even talk to me. No one has ever just blatantly ignored me, it hurt inside, a lot, and I didn't know why. Then when I tried to confront you about it, I screwed up, to the point where you said I wasn't worth your time. And even after all that you came back, and forgave me without thinking twice about it. You tried again and again to show me how to be a better person. Then I tried ignoring you, and you didn't even bat an eyelash. It was like as if you didn't even really need me. When we went into battle, I thought, "Here's my chance, I can show him that he needs me, just as much as I need him." and then you got hurt, and I couldn't help you. The one time you actually needed help, I couldn't. I have always been the strong one, everywhere I went. I wasn't even strong enough to keep you from getting hurt. I feel utterly useless." She started to cry again.

I brought her closer to me. "You don't need to get bent out of shape over something like that. You saved me from the N2 mine, didn't you? If it weren't for you holding me back, I would have been fried completely. If you hadn't of been there, I would have been doing it myself, and I WOULD have died. I DID need you, and you SAVED me." Didn't mention the fact that she technically saved me, from me, but she didn't need to know that.

"Baka." She said and laid her head against my shoulder. I couldn't help but smell the strawberry shampoo she used on a regular basis.

"By the way, Dinner is ready." I said to her. She slowly got up, and I did the same. Before heading toward the dinner table, she took a quick run to the bathroom. I went and sat down for dinner.

"What took you so long?" Misato asked, eyeing the food.

"She was asleep. I kept trying to wake her. You know how hard it can be to wake her up sometimes." I said the first thing I thought of.

"Next time just let her sleep through dinner." Misato said.

"Hmmf... I remind him of that the next time you are too drunk for dinner too." Asuka strode in proudly, a real opposite to the Asuka I saw minutes ago.

As she finally sat down we all started to dig into our food. After dinner we all retired to our respective spots (Mine still being the couch).

The next morning Asuka acted as if last night never happened. I wasn't too bothered by the fact because I knew she didn't know exactly what she felt yet, and neither did I. I kept trying to gather my thoughts on the subject, but the answer always eluded me.

The rest of that day was Rei and Asuka fighting, with little variation in between. It finally got to the point where they didn't even have to go out of their way to dodge each-other, it was perfectly synced, as if in a dance.

That night, all hell broke loose when the door bell rang and I answered it. Standing outside were Kensuke, Toji, and Hikari.

"Er... Hi!" I said to the unexpected guests.

"Who is it?" Asuka called out of the apartment.

When she walked into view she was still rather... in a state of homely dress, which to say, was not much other than her T-shirt and shorts, thankfully not too short this time. Still made Toji and Kensuke drop their jaws.

Hikari blushed then started to yell out, "OH MY GOD YOU ARE LIVING IN SIN!"

"It's not like that!" I protested, but both Toji and Kensuke started patting me on the back. Dejected I just invited them all inside.

Asuka had a hard time explaining to Hikari what we had been doing away from school. Toji and Kensuke didn't care, especially when Misato came out of her room wearing her home clothing.

"Oh I didn't know we had guests." She said as she looked into the living room. Over the rest of the time that they spent over, she supplied both Kensuke and Toji with enough beer to last many days. Hikari did not look to happy at the prospect.

"You live with this?" She asked as she looked around at my drunkard guardian, my stooge friends, and finally at Asuka. Before she could say anything else, Rei walked out of my room in her school uniform, seemingly not giving a shit that anyone was here.

"AND SHE LIVES HERE TOO?" Hikari almost screamed.

"It's temporary I think..." I said to her.

Asuka had just about enough. "Look Hikari, I don't judge your life, you don't judge mine. I don't care what you think about this, the truth is that we have to prepare for the next to kill the angel, and the only way we can do that is if me and Rei live together. Baka lives here too, No, we aren't doing anything like what you are thinking, and no, we haven't done anything like that. Now if you would get your head screwed back on your shoulders, and grow up, we can have a nice discussion about this like adults."

"Yes ma'am." Hikari sounded out, surprised.

"Man, is what Asuka said true?" Kensuke asked me.

I looked at his drunken form for a second before saying, "completely."

"You're living with three smoking hot girls, and you haven't fucked a single one of them?" He said aloud. Toji and Misato just sniggered a bit. Asuka however found it as funny as I did, which was not at all.

She picked both him and Toji off the ground and threw them out the door, yelling in German after them. Before they could get far enough away she started firing the pistol she stole from Misato in the air and they started running away at breakneck speeds.

"That worked." I smiled as she walked back inside.

"Stupid males." Asuka said as she sat back down. Misato had already passed out on the couch, and Rei had returned to my room after finding Pila.

Asuka took Hikari to her room so they could catch up and talk. I carried Misato back to hers, then cleaned my couch. When everything was said and done Hikari left, and Asuka declared she was going to bed. I decided to follow suit.

The rest of the week passed in somewhat normalcy, Asuka and Rei training, me staying out of their way, and Misato staying somewhat blitzed.

When the day finally arrived for the battle, we headed to NERV and I changed as usual, we were briefed on what was expected. Rei and Asuka got in their Eva's, and I went to the Command Center.

"Today is the day that y'all get to fight." I said still smiling.

"You do realize you are mostly responsible for actually finding a way that we could synchronize." Rei commented.

"It wasn't all his plan." Asuka said.

"Okay, y'all know the plan right?" I asked. It was my first time to truly be inside the command room.

"Yes." Rei said first.

"Yeah." Asuka said shortly after.

"Hey Shinji, seeing as you made this idea work, do you want to see how well you can lead the plan from here?" Misato asked.

"Seeing as I may never see my Eva again, why not?" I said with a smirk.

"WHAT?" Asuka yelled.

"I am confused." Rei then said.

"Didn't someone tell y'all? Right now, it is up to vote whether not I can still pilot or not." I said, "ANYWAY, you need to focus on the plan right now."

"Understood," they both said in unison.

I watched on as they were both launched into the sky, Rei touching down at the same moment as Asuka. They charged the angel and landed a direct blow with their knives.

"High energy reaction detected in the angel." Dr. Ritsuko yelled out.

"WATCH OUT!" I yelled over the coms. The angel raised it's hands and grabbed both of the Evas in front of it. Their heads were put in a vice like grip. I heard as the armor plates started to give way. Asuka started growling in frustration as she tried to pry the hand off her makeshift head. Neither of their sync ratios were high enough to receive actual damage but the pain. Rei began to whimper as her Eva's head gave way. The brains of the Eva fell out the palm of the angel, who then took his newly freed hand and set it against Asuka's head. Slowly but surely the armor gave way.

"I am going to my Eva." I said as I watched both their scores drop to zero as they passed out. I didn't know what I felt, it was as if my bones had turned to lit coal.

I slipped into my plug, and it quickly started filling. "Shinji, please, please do not do anything stupid." Misato said over the coms.

The Eva powered up, but I felt absolutely nothing, as if my anger finally went full cycle. Time felt slow as the Eva launched up the ramp. When I landed I looked at the fallen Evas. The angel was ignoring the Evas that were downed. I checked Asuka and Rei's vitals once more and saw they were still unconscious. Turning on the video feed for the plugs I saw that they were both sleeping semi-peacefully, or as peacefully as you can be when knocked out by a quarter-mile monstrosity. Before I knew what I was doing I walked over to the beast and grabbed it's pseudo-head. Once firmly in my grasp I put my other hand onto it's neck, clamping down as hard as I physically could, and then the beast exploded a violent red color. Every building was covered in the fluid that was it's blood. The blood started to boil off my Eva, I slowly grabbed both Rei and Asuka's Evas and dragged them to the closest down ramp.

End Chapter 8


	12. Chapter 10: Normalcy

Chapter 10: Normalcy

Disclaimer: Gainax owns Neon Genesis Evangelion. I however claim ownership of Fear. I love that emotion, I love what that emotion does to people.

"Stupid Baka..." Asuka said as we were at my trial, sitting behind a large table, behind a large monitor. It had been about five hours since I gathered them both and defeated the angel. On the screen was the Commander and the Vice-Commander, currently chewing out Misato in a rather ominous fashion.

I looked over to the chair to my left, Asuka was still clad in her plug-suit, and had a small bandaged over her head where she received a concussion. Rei still hadn't woken up, but she was supposedly unharmed. "Something wrong Asuka?" I asked.

She frowned then replied, "If you hadn't of gotten into Unit 01 I could've taken a shower by now, and we would be home eating."

"If I hadn't of gotten in, we would have lost." I replied, pointing out the obvious.

Asuka glared at me then turned her head the other way, scoffing.

"Fine." I said sarcastically.

Misato walked into the room rather weary looking. "Shinji, The Commander wants to speak with you." She said.

I walked through the soundproof glass door and looked at the screen.

"Why did you disobey your orders?" The Commander glared daggers at me from behind his overly reflective glasses.

"Would you rather of let NERV lose, and the end of the world as we know it happen?" I replied.

"I will let this go unnoticed for now. I will not tolerate something like this again. Your trial will be postponed until tomorrow." He said before the screen shut off.

"You Okay Baka?" Asuka asked, almost worried.

"That concern I hear in your voice?" I asked Asuka.

"Damn it Baka, don't even try to do your psychoanalysis shtick right now. Just answer the damn question." Asuka fumed.

"He said he would let it go "unnoticed" for now." I shrugged.

"So you still can't pilot?"

"Probably not." I said.

"Good." Asuka said then walked out.

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"Earth to the Shinji man." Toji waved his hand in front of my face.

"Oh sorry man, something up?" I asked.

"Yeah, WHY THE HELL ARE ASUKA AND REI SITTING TOGETHER?" Toji once again asked.

"Er, because of work. I guess." I said. Over the last few days Rei and Asuka had been getting along pretty well as long as they could go to Misato's apartment to fight afterwards. Rei was also moving (moved) in because when Misato and Asuka saw her apartment they locked her in the car. "Nope." Then drove away. I was being moved to the apartment next door to Misato. The whole upper floor was vacant in the apartment complex because NERV owned it and only let employees live there. After the paper work was done I moved out. I still went over there every morning and night to cook and help clean.

Toji began waving his hand in front of me again, "Man your hopeless." He said and gave up.

"Sorry Toji, I just can't think very straight right now." To be honest my mind kept wandering to what lay in store today. I was to be told whether or not I would ever get to pilot again. If not, I leave and get to live freely once again, if I pilot, I am stuck here, but with people that I want to protect. Freedom, or commitment.

After school released I walked home with Asuka and Rei, the former trying to tease the later for some unknown reason.

"So, Baka, did you know that Rei has a diary?" Asuka then snorted.

"Er... No... It was none of my business." I answered, I was still pissed about Asuka's thoughts on me not piloting.

Rei looking slightly irritated then said in her same monotone, "Shinji, did you know Asuka mutters your name when she sleeps?"

At this Asuka went crimson. "I DO NOT!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

"I remember that is the reason we had to sleep in different rooms on the first night." Rei then continued, "You kept repeating his name until I woke you up." Rei seemed to have gotten the upper hand.

"I DID NOT, I DO NOT!" Asuka kept screaming.

Seeing the apartments not too far away I turned back to them and watched them both glaring at each other. Rei held herself up straight while Asuka was half bent over yelling at Rei. It almost looked as if they could be some sort of pseudo sisters. "Uh, that's great and everything, but we have to get to the Geofront as soon as y'all have your kill each other time. So, let's hurry this up." Both Rei and Asuka hmmped and turned facing away from each other.

When we got to the apartment I slowly slid next door for a few minutes to set my stuff down and grab my plug suit just in case. Then went back to Misato's apartment and fed the critters. Pila and Pen Pen seemed content. Pila was on a diet of cat food. Pen Pen just wanted his beer and happily said "WARK." whenever he got it. With that taken care of I went upstairs. Both Rei and Asuka were in the armor and already at it. It had only been a day since they had to kill the angel but they still kept this up. I think they were just having too much fun beating on each other.

"Sorry to interrupt." Misato said when she walked up the stairs that led to the roof, looking happy as ever. "Are all of you ready to go?" She asked as she pointed down the stairs. Both Rei and Asuka nodded in agreement and took off the armor. I walked down to the car and called shotgun.

"No fair, you didn't give me a chance." Asuka whined.

"What's wrong Asuka, don't want to sit near Rei?" I said with a half mocking tone. I honestly believed over the last few days that they had become near inseparable, it was like they would always be that way as well.

"I do not mind Asuka." Rei then chirped in. I had also noticed over the last few days Rei had changed as well. Instead of showing no emotions whatsoever, she started taking up a few of Asuka's mannerisms and then seemed to inject her own way of balance into them for better or worse.

When we arrived to the Geo front they were led to the rooms for sync testing. I was led to the command room. "Major Katsuragi, we have read your report and wish to resolve the issue immediately." Said the gray haired man who was always with my father.

"Hi Dad." (AS SOON AS I GET THE CHANCE I WILL KILL YOU) I said waving and smiling intently to the man who apparently had a perpetual foul taste in his mouth.

"Shinji." He said while he moved one hand.

"As I understand it Unit 01 has been grounded until further notice. I wish to understand your reasoning." Misato said to the gray haired man.

"I have deemed it necessary to keep Unit 01 out of direct confrontation of the angels due to the amount of destruction and havoc that is caused each time." he said coolly.

I interrupted, thinking it would help my case, "Er... Wait... This is only because I break stuff? Um. Let's think a second on that, shall we? If I didn't kill the angels, there would be no more stuff anyway. It seems counter intuitive to ground me based on that idea." I said.

"Pilot Ikari." My father then said. "I would request you keep to yourself in this situation." He said flatly.

"If I cannot defend myself, there is no point in me being here now is there." Looking to Misato, "I am going to go watch Asuka and Rei's sync tests." I then proceeded to walk out.

I ended up watching them practice in the new test chamber for about an hour. They had some kind of argument and were already proceeding to abuse the simulation's no pain system rule and started fighting again.

"I AM SO GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS!" Asuka yelled.

"Bring it." Rei responded back. After they had emptied every weapon they started a knife fight which slowly devolved into a fist fight which then further devolved to Asuka beating Rei's Eva with it's own arm. I cringed at the idea of ever making one of them mad. Especially in the Eva I noted. Then my thoughts wandered to how cute Asuka seemed to be when angry, and how Rei seemed to be better under pressure. Then I collected my thoughts.

"I really need to stop thinking about that, especially if I have a death wish." I said to myself.

"Are y'all done yet?" I asked when they both exited the sync plugs. Rei (Still clad in her plug suit that emphasized her frame) then walked over to a chalk board marked "Victories" and put one on Asuka's side.

"That makes three wins for me, two for you." Asuka then said to Rei.

"It won't always be that way." Rei replied.

"Hey Shinji, did you know they added Unit 01 to the program now?" Asuka turned and asked me.

I was shocked. "Um. What did you just call me?" I asked.

"I called you Shinji, you should take it as a complement, I could always go back to calling you Baka." She answered.

"I honestly thought Baka was your term of endearment." I said seeing what it would do to Asuka. She shot back up to crimson.

"Oh I am so going to kill you now. GET IN THE DAMN PLUG." She ordered.

"One sec, I went to the bathroom and changed into my spare plug suit, not wanting to ruin my clothes. I hated the feel of the latex like suit suffocating my skin but I figured I would not have to wear it much longer if they took away my Eva.

As I walked out of the bathroom I noticed that both Rei and Asuka were talking. "We had an idea." Asuka then said.

"I am going to guess it is going to involve both of y'all against me." I said feeling a slight premonition of what must be going on in their heads.

"Correct." Rei said, tilting her head to a side.

"I figured." I said and let myself into the 3rd pod. Both of them hurried into their pods and booted them up. I followed suit shortly after. After the pod confirmed it's occupant it automatically chose the uploaded version of Unit 01. "Sup old buddy." I said as the pod fully booted into the simulation. Then I heard it's reply. "KILL."

'WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?' I said to myself as I was ripped away into the deepest recesses of my mind.

"Sup Kid." Psycho said, His hair was long and gangly, his body extremely fit but lean, like as if he were a large predator.

"Oh, so this is where you have been hanging out." I said to the split part of my personality, I had been lacking in his insight since before I wandered my way into Asuka's Eva.

"Yeah, I found good company with Unit 01 here and I thought I would be better off here anyway." He said smirking.

"Can't say I blame you." I replied.

"Any who, you are probably wondering what we are doing here. You see, all the data that these pods produce is linked into the Evas, and vice versa. This thing is hooked up to Unit 01's fucking skull." He said with a psychotic smirk.

"Oh nice. Well it doesn't matter much to me anymore seeing as I may no longer be allowed to pilot anyways." I said back.

"ER. WHAT? That kinda ruins a bunch of my plans... Like all of them." He asked semi pissed off voice.

"Yeah, they are thinking about grounding me permanently from the Eva due to excess destruction." I replied.

"Well shit. Well at least you can hang out here right? Excess destruction is a bullshit excuse. You tell them that you are saving the human race?" He said already coming up with a plan to get me back in Unit 01.

"Yeah." I answered as I was flushed back into the simulation.

"Oh good. You're finally here." Asuka said as she charged me with a prog spear. Quickly dodging the attack I redirected the spear up towards where Rei was falling from above. They had tried to set up an ambush at my spawn. The spear missed Rei barely. Backing away I found an Eva to either one of my sides. Asuka armed with a prog spear, and Rei with a pallet rifle and prog bayonet.

"Oh this isn't very fair. I just spawned in." I said over the speakers, dodging quick jabs as they came to me. Asuka seemed very intent on backing me into a corner.

"We came up with a plan to ambush you." Rei then said over hers.

"REI STOP GIVING AWAY CRITICAL INFORMATION OF BATTLE!" Asuka yelled over her speakers. "I guess you didn't hear most of the bet you already accepted did you?" Asuka then said. "If we win, you have to take both of us out to eat, if you win, we have to learn how to cook for ourselves." She said. I kept backing away until I hit a solid object.

"Oh shit." I said as I hit a building

I was knocked off balance by Asuka swiping the non bladed end under my feet. As I fell Rei deployed her prog knife and was about to stab me when I kicked her feet out from beneath her. Using her downward momentum to my advantage I grabbed her Eva and used it to shield me against Asuka's spear.

"GOTT DAMN IT SHINJI." Asuka said as she could no longer attack with me using Rei as a hostage.

"All is fair in love and war." I said.

"So we are in love?" Rei then asked causing a distraction.

With that I almost paused on the spot. "Um... WHAT?" I was about to start freaking out when Asuka then tried to deliver a spear blade into my head. I pulled to the left to dodge.

"Good distraction Rei." Asuka stammered. She wasn't immune to the question either. I tossed Rei into Asuka; both fell. I grabbed Asuka's spear and broke off the end and began to spin the staff that I just improvised.

"NOT FAIR." Asuka then yelled again over the open channel. They were having trouble trying to get up from the ground. I threw the staff away, deciding against it, and got a hold of my knife.

"Now everyone is armed equally." I said with a smirk. With that Asuka made it off the ground and grabbed and pulled Rei up.

"Let's get him Wonder-girl." Asuka seemed pissed. They both began to circle around me slowly incing forward. When Rei was completely behind me and Asuka was to my side they tried to strike. I jerked upwards, lifting my Eva completely off the ground and right above where they would have connected. In their confusion I deployed my second knife and came down with them both, using my momentum to gain more force. Shoving one straight down through Asuka's head I then backhanded the other into Rei's.

"Game over." I said as the simulation went black.

"THAT WAS NOT A FAIR MOVE!" Asuka yelled as she yanked me out of the pod.

"I'm not the one who decide to do a two on one match." I said back.

"Pilot Ikari, after watching this simulation we have deemed it appropriate to allow you to keep piloting the Eva on the condition that you are the contingency plan." My father said over the screen.

"THEY WERE WATCHING US?" I yelled/asked at Asuka, especially worried if Misato had seen the whole freeze part when love was mentioned. She would taunt us forever.

"Don't ask me I didn't have any idea either." She responded.

"Well... Thanks..." I said back over the screen which then shut off. "So what about that bet?" I then turned back to Asuka.

"You didn't fight fairly." was all she said.

"How about a compromise? I'll take y'all out to dinner, and y'all can learn to cook sometime later, hell, I'll even teach." I said, rather tired of having to cook EVERY meal. I might love cooking and eating, but I didn't like spending 3-4 hours a day in a kitchen.

"That would be most agreeable." Rei then said as she exited her pod.

After I had hit the male changing room and took a shower to get the LCL off of me I changed back into my normal clothes. 'I still can't believe they are going to let me pilot again.' I thought to myself. I headed back to the simulation pod room, both of them were changing and Misato was as happy as ever.

"Congratulations Shinji." She said as I entered the room. "You are now team leader." She finished.

"And Asuka is fine with this?" I asked. "It was my idea actually." She said while walking into the simulation testing room. "Besides, you have to stay here anyway when we get to fight angels. You might as well get to help us form a strategy." Asuka then said.

"Rei, how do you feel about this?" I asked, noticing the blue behind the red headed girl.

"I am fine with it." She said.

Once we got home I cooked them all dinner, making Asuka help, Rei had volunteered. After everything was ready we ate then I collected the rest of my belongings and finished moving into the next apartment over.

"Don't expect to get much sleep Shinji. Tomorrow we have to go check out a rumor of an dormant angel." Misato said way past the just a buzz limit.

"Er where?" I asked, probably near there myself.

"Inside a volcano." She giggled. Thinking she was joking I finished saying my goodbyes and headed over to my apartment.

I got ready for bed then passed out on my new bed. 'FEELS SO NICE TO BE HOME.'

The next morning I woke up and followed my daily routine. After an hour of reading from one of my books I headed over to Misato's apartment and began to cook. After making everyone breakfast I woke them up. I let Pila outside then back in. I swore that raccoon was beyond intelligent when it opened up the cat food bag and poured it into a bowl on the counter then put the bag back up. I woke up Pen Pen and gave him his morning beer as I handed Misato hers. I got out the orange juice and set it on the table then we proceeded to dig in. "Isn't it great that Shinji is so house broken?" Misato then joked (or I hoped she was joking.)

"I don't know what you mean." I said back.

"Oh nothing, just you take care of all of the problems around here without even being asked anymore." She then said. "Anyways, eat fast, we have to go get the Type D equipment on Unit 02." She then added.

"OH SHIT. YOU WEREN'T KIDDING WERE YOU?" I asked while freaking out. Type D equipment stood for the bubble suit that was produced for high heat and pressure. It was never tested.

"Nope!" She said with a smile on her face.

"Um. Asuka?" I asked as I turned towards her. She was still disheveled but beautiful.

"Rei and I drew straws. I got the longer one when the short one was the win, though I might have been trying to lose, seeing as I was the one holding the straws." was all she said back.

"Okay, so let me get this straight... We are dropping Asuka into a volcano, to go retrieve an angel, I have a bad feeling this is a trap, just so that y'all can see if the lab can study it?" I asked.

"That is the plan!" Misato still smiling.

"Um... Misato, you realize this IS a trap right?" I asked then continued. "We have never found an angel before this that wasn't in it's adult stage. Dr. Ritsuko said that y'all could not detect their AT Fields without them being adults. If that is how you located this one that means it is in adult form just in disguise." I said trying to appeal to her logic.

"That... That actually makes sense." Asuka said at the other end of the table, dropping her silverware against the plate in contemplation.

"One sec." Misato grumbled as she got out her phone and called Dr. Ritsuko. She then walked outside and a few minutes later she returned. "Guess what?" She asked. "Shinji you semi intelligent bastard. You were right." she said.

"So, that means we are no longer going to drop Asuka or Rei into an active volcano?" I asked worried about the idea.

"I thank you for you compassion." Rei chirped in.

"I just don't want to see either of y'all get hurt. That includes you too, Asuka." I said watching her turn back into crimson.

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"Plan B. Guys," Misato said while all three of us were standing in front of the volcano.

"I wish we hadn't of missed the school trip today." I grumbled.

"Your not the only one." Asuka piped in. "I even bought a new swim suit and everything." She quickly added.

"Are y'all even listening?" Misato asked from the command truck.

"Kinda sorta." I said.

"Ayanami is about to fire the new positron rifle when we lock onto the signal of the angel hopefully killing it." Misato said. "If something goes wrong, you are to backup Unit 00. Got it?"

"Yeah yeah, protect wonder girl if I need to." Asuka then said.

"Firing now." Rei said over the open line. "Signal eradicated." She said with a much happier tone. Then the ground started shaking and a frog like form jumped out of the volcano, causing it to spew lava everywhere. The forest began to catch fire. Asuka seeing this as an opportunity for some action charged with her spear. Before it even knew what was happening Asuka shoved her spear through the mouth of the beast into one side of it. Apparently hitting it's core the angel exploded into molten rock and a giant cross formed from the old body.

"I guess that is the end of that." I said relieved.

"Well that was no fun." Asuka said pouting.

"Thank you Asuka." Rei then said.

"Oh no problem Rei, it is not like I am going to let someone kill you or anyone else when you have a higher score then me." I centered around the "anyone else" comment but let it pass, if she wanted to talk about it, I am sure she would.

"Congratulations on taking down angel number 8." Misato said from the command truck.

"Er... Seeing as now would be the best time to ask, Who wants to go get something to eat?" I asked. We had been here all day waiting for a lock on the angel and it was nearing nightfall. I guessed I needed to make good on my word to take them both out.

"We have to head home first." Asuka then said, "Agreed." Rei then added.

After we got home both of them nearly ran into Misato's apartment. A few moments later and both of them came out with dresses on. Rei's was a white dress that looked like it would fit in the 1950's. It was lovely looking on her, though it was rather plain. Asuka came out with a crimson single strap dress that contrasted nicely with her white skin. I finally went into my apartment and switched into a black dress shirt and kept a pair of my black jeans. No way was I going to wear those crappy dress pants, they don't feel right if I have to move. "So y'all ready?" I asked as we left.

After dinner we went and watched a movie. I was not very enthused with it because it was more of a romantic comedy of a man who has to choose between two women, but cannot seem to make up his mind. I intelligently knew to keep my opinion to myself though. Once that was concluded we headed back home.

"So, there is my end of the bet." I said as we went up the elevator. With a ding the elevator opened and we headed to the door. Before I could escape into my sanctum I was stopped by Asuka, with Rei to my flank. "Something wrong?" I asked confused. With that I was thrown against a wall and Asuka snuck a kiss on my lips then Rei did the same while Asuka still held me down..

"Thanks for a nice night" they both said as they disappeared into Misato's apartment. I replayed that scene over and over again in my head trying to make sense of it. Still confused I wandered into my room as if drunk. I quickly got ready for bed. 'what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck have I gotten myself into?' I repeated in my mind over and over again trying to solve what the fuck just happened.

End Chapter 10

A/N: Yeah, sorry about the time between updates. I am rather short handed because of the last 3 weeks of school in Texas.


	13. Chapter 11: Time Alone

Chapter 11:  
Gainax thing

"I think I win again." I said as the pods opened, having just beaten Rei and Asuka at their own game.

"HOW?" Asuka yelled again. "NOT FAIR!" She seemed a little more pissed.

Rei more calm and collected walked over to the board that now had all of our names on it and put another mark under my name. "Shinji now has fifteen wins. I have seven. You have thirteen." Rei said facing Asuka.

"Ever since he has gotten into that pod he has not lost a match... HOW?" Asuka said beating her head against the pod door again and again.

"He seems to have more experience with his weapon." Rei said calmly.

"I just think it has to do with my sync ratio, that and the fact I have some real life experience with all the weapons that I use in my Eva." I shot back.

"What do you mean real life experience?" Asuka asked.

"Well, all the weapons I use in the sim, I have used in real life, or at least have used something near. For example, the spear, I have used to hunt boar before, I know how one feels in my hands, therefore I can "feel" it in my Eva's hands." I responded, remembering the feeling of hunting, and missing it.

"So, you think that if we used the weapons or practiced with them, we might be able to win?" Asuka asked, in thought.

"That seems understandable." Rei then added.

"How about when we get home, we head to the dojo and see if they have any other weapons?" I asked.

After we had once again "raided" the dojo, (and I paid for everything) we headed back home. Hoping to make an impression I took off my jacket and shirt, and went outside with nothing on but a pair of sneakers and pants.

I walked up the stairs. "Wow..." was all I got from Asuka, probably thinking I was the stupidest man on earth. Rei just blushed.

"Something wrong?" I asked as they just stood there. "Y'all want to do this?" I asked enjoying the look.

"What about armor for you?" Asuka still stammering.

"My spirit is my armor." I said.

"I find your faith disturbing." Rei then commented.

"I find that statement disturbing." I understood the reference, and hopefully another one would not happen.

Before I could say another word Asuka had gotten her hands upon a mock naginata and began to try to cut me down. Rei had done the same only was using a staff instead. Deftly dodging some of the attacks and absorbing others I began to take out one of my practice knives. "Time to show you how this works." I said as I got one into a hand. Asuka tried to swipe near my head but before she could connect, I went low and shoved the fake knife into her gut pommel first. "These blades may be blunt, but they still hurt like hell." I laughed. Rei then tried to swing the staff overhead delivering a downwards swipe. Quickly moving to the side I watched as the staff rebounded off the ground. "That would have hurt." feigning a pained look. Rei froze, before she could recover I reversed my grip on the knife I pulled her close before delivering a blow of my own, straight into the kidney. "This might hurt for a while." I whispered into her ear. She didn't even look like she noticed the pain as she slowly hit the ground. "Y'all okay?" I asked both of them looking stunned.

Misato then started clapping. "My, my, Shinji, I think you broke them..." She said laughing.

Asuka then started talking, "Where did you learn that?"

"A man from where I used to live taught me that." I said laughing.

"There is only one type of people in history that fought like that in battle, at least with knives. Shinji, have you ever been to America?" Asuka asked.

"Er. No. Why?" I asked back.

"Asuka is implying that you learned what you are doing from an American." Rei answered for her.

"More specifically a people named the Apache. Famous for their knife fighters." Asuka clarified.

"Yeah that seems about right." I said laughing, then continued, "he pretty much was the only person I could rely on when I lived with my quote unquote uncle."

"Sounds like he was very important to you." Rei then said.

"Oh you wouldn't believe it. He was a father to me. He taught me almost everything I know, I just hope he is okay wherever he is now." I said.

"Time for round two." Asuka said happily as she tried to catch me unaware. I just ducked as Rei blocked her blow from hitting her.

"I believe that is a spot check passed." Rei said aloud, then took her staff and tried to slam it against my side. I dropped to the ground, knowing that it would seriously hurt if I got hit. Bamboo might not break bones, but it will bruise the ever living crap out of you. I spun on the ground and looked up, quickly getting to my feet. Asuka was already prepared and swiped at me. I barely blocked her with my knife, then brought the other one as close as I could before Rei stepped in and tried to hit me. She successfully dislodged my knife from holding Asuka at bay, and the naginata drove Rei to the ground. I then spun around and slashed at Asuka's stomach, then remembered that these knives were blunt, so no damage would be inflicted. Getting aggravated, I dodged the rest of her attacks until I was close enough to jab the blunt knife into her gut, causing her to cough and fall to the ground.

Asuka slowly got up, staggering from the blow. "I ain't done yet." She barely got out before she fell to a knee. Rei then walked over to her and helped her up.

"We are done for today." Rei said as she walked Asuka down the stairs.

I went back over to my apartment and showered, taking a layer of sweat off of me. I then changed into a t-shirt and jeans and walked back over to Misato's.

With some coaxing I started dinner with some help from Rei, it was her turn to learn to cook. I was still confused about what happened after the date but they seemed to not bring it up so I didn't either.

"Okay Rei, get the cheese out and grate it, then get out the milk and creme cheese out." I ordered.

"Yes." Was the response I got, then I heard her gasp.

"What's wrong?" I quickly turned around and went over to her.

"It is nothing Shinji, I just cut myself." I looked to her hand, she had nicked part of the tip of her finger. I took her hand and escorted to her the sink. Washing her hand I then took her to the bathroom. "Shinji, I believe it is inappropriate for us to enter the bathroom together." she said.

"Uh, Rei, don't worry about that for a second." I got the bandages out and deftly wrapped one around her wound. "That should hold up for a few days." I told her.

"This feels different." Rei said breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Usually when someone places bandages on me they do it with less care, only helping because they have to." She said frowning.

"I'm sorry Rei." An emotion started surging again that I thought I had worked through. "I am so sorry." I repeated.

"I-I for-give you?" Rei said, more like a question.

"PERVERT!" Asuka yelled from the hallway. Looking into the bathroom she caught two pairs of eyes glaring at her.

"Er... I think the food is done." She then said, visibly disturbed.  
Right after dinner Asuka "helped" with the dishes. "So, what were you and Rei doing in the bathroom?" She asked, slowly raising red.

"She cut her finger, I was helping her bandage it." I answered honestly.

"She could have done that herself." Asuka replied angrily.

"Asuka, please tell me, what's wrong? I don't know what has been with you for the last few weeks but you and Rei have been changing. It is driving me nuts." I told her.

"Baka..." She said not looking at me. "You remember when you almost died? I thought that I got you killed. I almost lost it. Rei was the only one who believed that you would make it out. She helped me cope with it. She also showed me that I do actually care about you just like she did. We could not ~... We... Learned something about each other and ourselves. Before we could not stand being near each other. Now we both have a common goal. We finally agreed on something, guess what that thing was Shinji, it was you, we both care about you." She said as she finally hit crimson.

"I never knew." I blushed.

Rei then walked into the kitchen. "Shinji, originally the plan was to wait until you were ready. Everything Asuka has said so far is true." She said.

After finishing the dishes, still being silent, I went back to my apartment. I could not fathom what they were saying, to me they were perfect, but I could not wrap my mind around what was going on. "Maybe" I said aloud when I finally hit the bed.

When I woke up it was mid day. "OH FUCK!" I said when I saw the clock. I quickly got dressed and walked into Misato's apartment.

I noticed a note on the counter. "Shinji, angel attack, we didn't think you would be necessary to take down this one. We let you sleep." I was not exactly happy, but I wasn't completely pissed. The apartment complex was nowhere near the inside part of Tokyo-3. I headed up the roof to watch the battle whenever it would start.

The giant spider angel was stupid enough to fully extend it's legs so it could walk above Rei. She then discharged a large burst of rounds into the angel's body. The legs were blown off at the stumps. The angel couldn't move anymore when Asuka impaled the angel with extreme prejudice. When the angel finally exploded I went back downstairs.

I was pissed. Walking back inside I started dinner, I would make something nice for them when they got home. 'oh god I am house broken.' I thought to myself, finishing dinner I put everything in containers. I wrote a note for them when they got home, the contents not need here but I will say, it surmised that I was going to go camping. Grabbing my new knife I got from the Jet Alone people, it was supposedly made of nigh-indestructible poly carbonate materials. It was stained black but all the edges were blue. Even though I used this knife almost exclusively for everything but fighting I could not dull it. They said this would be a man sized version of my next knife for my Eva which I was fine with. I then headed out with nothing but my knife and the clothes on my back.

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Throughout my hike, I kept wondering if Section 2 was going to follow. I just decided to keep walking, and did so until I hit a river, it was nearing dark, and I figured it was now or never. River meant fresh water so I decided to camp here. Finding a piece of chert, I decided to start a small fire. I collected a bunch of sticks and used the chert and my knife to make a small fire. Once that was done I decided to find a place to rest, and rest came easier that night than it had ever before. Once again, I was happy.

The second day was filled with me finding random objects and turning them into ways to survive. First was making a spear, the second was making a bunch of small sticks to impale things. Impressed at my own work, I began to feel more and more at home. The next part was spear fishing. I was no good at it but I decided to keep going, hoping for food.

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Sitting on a rock near the fresh water river that I had been getting my water from I decided I was hungry. I used the small wooden spear I made to fish and began cooking my catch. I felt great though, being back in the element that I was used to. After a few hours of debating and deciding, I thought it may be time for me to go back. I doused the fire, changed back into my "real clothes" and started walking back. I was about a seven hour hike away from the apartment complex but I knew the woods pretty well along with my direction. I didn't worry about school seeing as we were on a two week break because of the last angel attack. Slowly making ground I was happy to notice that the nature around was more joyous. Taking all the sweet time in the world, I watched many things. Birds catching prey mid-air, bees pollinating flowers around me, spiders hunting. Animals of all sorts going from one place to another. I wanted to stay here, it felt like home. A longing in my heart was the only thing that kept me from staying though. I wanted to see Rei and Asuka again.

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When the sun was going down I got back to the complex, walking up the stairs I was stopped when I heard crying. Slowly sneaking up to the stairs I heard someone crying. Looking in it was Asuka crying while hugging Rei. "I'm sorry for making you listen to my problems." Asuka was apologizing to Rei. "She just left me alone, all alone."

Rei then hugged her. "Don't worry Asuka, Shinji helped me when I was alone, maybe he can help you." She said. I knocked on the semi open door.

"BAKA WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? WE WERE WORRIED ABOUT YOU! DID YOU NOT THINK THAT WE WOULD CARE IF YOU GOT UP AND LEFT?" Asuka yelled when she saw me, trying to cover up her earlier crying with this issue.

"I thought it might be time for me to come home." I said. Rei's blush barely covered her face when she noticed Asuka was still draped over her. "Sorry, I am kind of tired, I think I'm going to go take a shower." I said walking to my apartment.

After getting back out I got dressed in a fresh set of pants. I didn't throw on a shirt noticing the uselessness of me doing so, a shirt was only to keep you warm, and it was plenty warm outside right now, I didn't use the air conditioner in my apartment. I think it was broken, I always avoided anything that adapted the environment to me instead of the other way around.

I headed back over to Misato's announcing my entrance. "Damn Shinji, you got tan." Misato said after I got done telling her about my weekend.

"Why didn't you tell us where you would be?" Asuka asked.

"Well, I wanted some time to myself to figure out my priorities." I answered somewhat honestly.

"You want to share what you figured out?" Rei then asked.

"I think I will do that later, right now, I think I am going to pass out. The seven hour hike was killer." I laughed.

End Chapter 11

A/N: Yeah, I got exempted from most of my finals so I thought I would try to get this story updated. Rejoice! From this point on I think it should be easier to update now that most parts are written like this, you know, with actual spacing and broken up dialogue instead of blocks"o"text. On a side note, my side stories might not get updated for awhile. I know I promised somewhere that I would try to update them somewhat regularly, but I am going to have to put them on hiatus until I either get more free time and/or finish this story. Currently this one is my main priority, and also, I might have some started some extras some I am trying to cut down on just going on a spree on those and just writing down the ideas instead.


	14. Chapter 12: Coming to Terms

Chapter 12: Coming to terms.

I do not own NGE

"It's fucking freezing in here." I said when I woke up. Something was wrong, the AC was on. I never turned the ac on, not once in my stay here. I put on a pair of pants and headed to the living room where the controls were. I felt hyper aware, like a predator searching for prey.

"Hello Shinji." Rei said as I passed her.

"Hi Rei." I muttered still in my half asleep state. I went over to the AC and turned it off, I was walking back to my room before I noticed what I had just seen. "WAIT, WHAT THE FUCK? REI?" I shouted. I looked back into the kitchen, Rei was currently seated at the table.

"If you keep shouting you may wake Asuka." Rei replied, in her pajamas.

"What are y'all doing in my apartment?" I asked, thoroughly confused beyond all belief.

"Asuka believed it would be a good idea to move in with you." Rei answered.

"Um... Why?" I asked.

"She decided after Misato brought Kaji over." Rei replied.

"Okay..." I was still confused about what was happening.

"Would you like me to start the coffee? It is nearing sunrise." Rei asked, got up, clicked the on button, then sat back down.

"Er... Sure... I'll be right back." I headed back to my room and got dressed.

When I was finished I went into the bathroom and washed up, after that I headed back into the kitchen. "Okay, can you explain to me exactly why Asuka thought this was a good idea?" I asked Rei who handed me a cup of coffee.

"From my understanding, Asuka was aggravated at a choice Misato made. "If Misato is moving her boyfriend in, we are moving in with Baka." Was what she said before she pulled me over here." Rei replied.

"Where is Asuka, by the way?" I asked semi peeved.

"She took the room at the far end of the hallway, the one closest to the bathroom." Rei said as she sipped her cup of coffee. "This tastes incredibly bitter, almost like medicine." She then said.

"Didn't you put any sugar in it? Or milk?" I asked.

"No, I have never had this drink before." She answered.

"One sec." I got up and took her cup, I added some sugar and milk then stirred, then handed it back. "There, that should be a little better." I said.

"This tastes much more agreeable, thank you." She said as she drank more.

"I am going to go wake Asuka now." I said as I stood up.

I proceeded down the hallway, half scared of what I might see. I opened the door. "Asuka, wake up." I said from the door way.

"Breakfast done yet?" She said still mostly asleep.

"Er. No. I had a few questions." I said.

"Then go away and wake me up when breakfast is ready." She then fell back to sleep. I headed back to the kitchen, then started making breakfast with what I had. Suffice to say, there was no meat in my fridge whatsoever so I just ended up making eggs and pancakes.

"Where is Pila?" I asked as Rei seemed to busy herself in a book.

"Pila is still asleep." She answered.

"Hey Rei, you mind waking up Asuka?" I said as I was setting the table for three (two more than the usual.)

"Not at all." She said as she got up and went to Asuka's room. A minute or two later she came back out. I then noticed Rei was in a night dress.

"You might want to put a change of real clothes on before Asuka wakes up and accuses us of something." I told her.

"Understood." She then disappeared into the room across from mine.

Asuka came out of her staked room, then went to the bathroom, then came into the kitchen. Rei reappeared from her claimed room.

"Baka, why is there no meat?" Asuka said as we were sitting down.

"I don't usually have people who eat meat in my apartment, especially ones that surprise me in the morning by randomly showing up in the middle of the night." I answered hoping to drop a hint.

"Oh yeah, by the way, we are moving in with you." She replied, not asking, not pleading, just saying it as if it were set in stone.

"Yeah, Rei already explained that much to me." I said, then asked, "Do I have any choice in this?"

"Let me think about it, no." She said with a forceful sounding tone.

"You can't honestly believe Misato will just allow the both of y'all to move in with me, especially unsupervised." I said.

"Misato seemed okay with it when I yelled it at her last night." Asuka said still eating her food, then added, "Besides, why are you complaining, you now have two beautiful females living with you."

"Yeah, that's the issue. I don't exactly think this is a good idea. What if something happens?" I asked.

"We have already thought this out." Rei then said.

"Then I am going to set some ground rules." I started, "Nobody is allowed in the apartment unless they live here except Misato. Rule 2, no funny stuff. Rule 3 ~"

"Shinji, would you shut up?" Asuka asked, not batting an eye, unimpressed.

"Um. What?" I asked.

"Would. You. Shut. up." She repeated, then continued to say, "As far as I am concerned, we have as equal rights here as you do, not to mention, I really don't think Wonder-girl is going to be bringing any boys over, and I wasn't planning on it, the only boy I am interested in seems to be completely oblivious anyway, not to mention completely celibate." She finished.

"Asuka, we may be in the same metaphorical boat." Rei then added. I began to get a little aggravated.

"You know, sex before marriage is a sin in most religions, and there are plenty of ways to express feelings other than in a completely physical way." I said.

"Well Shinji, you would know ALL ABOUT THAT WOULDN'T YOU?" Asuka started shouting, "You know, if a girl opens her heart to you, you are supposed to at least give them a sign, not let them just keep wondering, to make them keep waiting for you to grow a pair and return their feelings. Not to mention, since when did you become religious?" When she finished I got up from the table.

"Fine, you want me to take a little initiative? I am sorry, Yes, I love the both of y'all. I just don't exactly know how to express my feelings. I am not used to this touchy-feely stuff, it's not like I was shown any way to express them." I was shocked by what came out of my mouth but I knew it was the truth.

"Shinji... Wow... Um... Thanks?" Asuka stammered.

"We do love you Shinji, I am personally willing to wait until you are ready." Rei then said, the only one of us able to talk with any precision.

Before anyone could say anything else Misato barged in. "Another angel is attacking, we have to go now." she said.

"Understood." Rei answered, still the only one who could talk. Misato then walked out.

"We need to go." I finally said.

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We finally got into our Evas. It was still early in the morning. "Okay, we don't have a plan yet, but we will inform you when we do." Dr. Ritsuko said over the coms.

"You cannot directly affect the angel. It is hovering in orbit right now." Misato then added.

"Er. What?" I asked confused.

"There is nothing you can do right now." Misato repeated.

"Then why are we even going out?" Asuka asked.

"So far, the way we have found this angel works is by using its AT field to propel pieces of itself into the ground. Both You and Rei are better at projecting your field into a shield, Shinji, I don't think has any ability to actively control his AT field, at least in the same way." Dr. Ritsuko answering Asuka.

"So the angel is using a gauss cannon? That's actually original for one of these monsters." Asuka commented.

"So the plan is making Rei and Asuka block the falling pieces and me to do something undecided yet." I said, summarizing almost every plan we had ever.

"Pretty much." Misato then spoke out. "Powering up the Units." was all I heard before I spaced out.

"Sup man, what are you doing here?" Psycho asked.

"There is an angel sitting in orbit above the earth." I said.

"Oh, so you are expected to somehow pilot Unit 01 and take the thing out of the sky?" He started laughing.

"So far, I think that is the plan." I started laughing back.

"Well, lets see what we can do." I was flushed back into reality.

"Pilot Ikari, we seriously need to talk about how you sync when you get back." Dr. Ritsuko said while watching my sync ratio boost well over a hundred percent then dropping, then repeating the cycle.

"Exactly how high is it?" I asked her.

"It's at 198% at max, 3% at minimum." she answered.

"What are Asuka's and Rei's?" I asked.

"Both of them are hovering around at 93% give or take a few." She answered.

"UM WHAT?" Asuka yelled over the com, "THERE IS NO WAY HE IS THAT HIGH. THERE WOULD BE SIGNIFICANT RISKS OF CONTAMINTATION."

"We already thought of that Asuka." Dr. Ritsuko assured her over the coms.

"UNITS LAUNCH." Misato yelled.

As soon as we hit the ground Rei and Asuka used their AT fields to shield Tokyo-3. I just stood their uselessly in my black and white Eva. The angel continued to try to drop it's pieces on us but they were stopped by the AT shield.

"Okay, if I have such a high sync ratio, why can't I use the AT field like they can?" I asked.

"Pilot Ikari, I do not think your ability with the Eva is used the same way theirs are. I have a feeling you're ability with the Eva is much different, you just have to figure out how yours works." Dr. Ritsuko answered.

I switched over to the pilot only channel. "I have a question, how do y'all control your fields?"

Rei responded first, "My field is based on my ability to focus, the more focus I have, the stronger my AT field. It works like water, the more I focus the more it is like ice, the less I focus, it becomes water again." She said.

Asuka then tried to explain her way, "Mine works based on my emotional state, depending on how I feel, my AT field changes. Stronger emotions make my field stronger."

"That gives me a lot of ideas but none of them are useful right now." I grumbled over the channel. I then began to try to focus like Rei. Nothing happened. I began to try to feel strong emotion, didn't help either. Then it hit me, my AT field was not like theirs. I had no ability to control mine because I was not in the same mindset as my Eva.

"I know how it works now." Was the last thing I said before I spaced out again.

"Psycho. I think I found out how this all works now." I told him.

"So, what have you found?" He asked me.

"The reason that you stayed with the Eva. The Eva works by holding a soul, when you destroyed the one that was in here, it had to be replaced. You slowly began to leave from me piece by piece so that we could sync better with the Eva." I answered him.

"WRONG AGAIN!" He yelled then laughed.

"I am not the one who left you completely. Think about it, what is the only thing you have lost?" He added. I began thinking about it slowly coming to a realization.

"It wasn't you... The only other thing I haven't been able to do is... Was it the little monk in my head?" I asked astonished.

"Bingo. Though I think he prefers you to call him your Conscience. You know, that little voice in your head that keeps you from doing the truly wrong things? I just usually talk louder than he does." He said, "I split the part of me in you to keep him company and to keep us from doing something stupid. The reason that you and the Eva have been working so well is because the small part of me in here can sync extremely well with you right now. To go any further you will have to be more like him." He finished, "Time to go now." He said as he flushed me back into reality.

I sighed, "Great, now I have to feel like what I am doing is the right thing. Hmm... Saving humanity is justified by the fact they make art?" I was talking to myself. The Eva completely stopped responding at that idea. "Okay, then saving humanity is justified by also saving Asuka and Rei because they are part of humanity?" I asked myself.

"Shinji's sync has spiked." Dr. Ritsuko yelled.

"OH MY GOD!" another voice called out, "His ratio is nearing 300%!" I then came fully back.

"I know what to do now." I said over the channel. I began to focus on the pods from the angel, I focused the earth around me, and finally felt at peace.

"I just have to be sure of whatever I do." I said. I took a small boulder in hand and began to focus on visualizing it smash into the angel. The rock slowly grew brighter and brighter til it became as bright as a bolt of lightning would. I focused on where the angel's core was, the angel itself had lowered since I left. The boulder flashed upwards into the sky, becoming a small meteor, it impacted the angel's core while it was in low orbit. The angel exploded. I went out.

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"GOD MOTHERFUCKING DAMN IT!" I woke up again in the hospital room that apparently only reserved for me now. The doctors had even installed a plaque that had my name on it to the door.

"Good job Shinji." Misato said when I woke up.

"So what happened this time?" I asked.

"You nearly hit a 300% sync. You killed the angel, and saved us all." She said, smiling.

"So, why am I here?" I asked.

"Oh, we pressurized the plug thinking you would go bezerk again." She said, dismissing it with her hand.

"How long have I been here?" I asked.

"Five minutes." She laughed. Asuka and Rei had already changed and walked into the room.

"Good going Baka. Once again in the hospital." Asuka said.

"At least this time it wasn't my fault." I snarked back.

We got home and I went into my apartment, too tired to think. Noticing the two behind me I remembered they had moved in. "Er. No offense, but y'all are on your own tonight for dinner. I think I am going to go pass out." I said as I walked into my room.

"This will not be a problem." Rei answered back. I passed out once again, but this time it was of my own free will.

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The next two weeks went pretty well. No angel attacks, Rei and Asuka carried on their daily schedule, though they never changed their minds about moving in with me, and I think they finally started to understand my inability to project certain emotions well and fully understood that I was not ready for "that kind" of relationship.

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"Okay, Rei, this one is yours, Asuka, this one is yours. Y'all might want to check to make sure they are the correct ones." I said as I handed them their lunches.

"This is definitely mine" Asuka said as she opened up hers and smelt the meat. Rei did the same and found a salad.

"I thank you Shinji." She said as she closed the box.

"We need to get going." I said as I noticed the time.

"Yeah, we don't want to be late for school." Asuka said sarcastically.

"Look Asuka, you enjoyed your break, we have to go back." I said back.

Rei then spoke up, "Would you rather allow Shinji to be around Horaki without you?"

Asuka shot up red, "NO!" I took that as a victory. I knew Asuka wouldn't skip then.

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"SUP SHINJI!" Toji greeted me along with Kensuke.

"Sup man?" I said extremely happy to see my friends after these few weeks. Toji had gone out of town with his little sister when she was transferred off the island to a new hospital. Kensuke had left with his father on a hunting trip on a different part of Japan. It felt so good to see them again.

"How did y'all's break go?" I asked them as we started heading to the school.

"Shinji, Asuka was wondering who was going to make dinner tonight, I did not know so I offered to ask you." Rei asked before we could go anywhere.

"Huh, Rei, why would you be concerned on who is making dinner, didn't Shinji move out of Misato's place?" Kensuke asked, confused why the blue haired child was even talking, she would usually only talk when it was necessary, and even then, never directly to anyone, much less address someone as she was doing now.

"When Shinji moved out, me and Asuka moved in with him." She answered him, looking quite displeased at having to talk to someone other than those she was used too.

"Don't worry about it Rei, I think tonight is my night." I answered her, quickly picking up on her discomfort.

"Hey guys, why don't you head on up to school, I need to talk to Rei." I said as I dismissed them with my hand.

"Man you are either the luckiest guy on Earth or the dumbest." Toji offhandedly commented.

"Look, it's not like that." I tried to defend myself.

Rei then spoke up for me, "We have not had any physical relations. Nor has he or Asuka." Both of my friends looked shocked. "If you do not leave, I will force you to." She then said with a frown. Both of them almost broke into a run away from the blue haired girl, I was sure she would have a nickname by the time I got to school.

I then looked at her, "Rei, you don't have to strain yourself, I know you didn't like talking to them." I said.

"I may not like talking to the two of them, but you are here and it would be rude of me to ask you to leave them." she replied.

Seeing this as a perfect opportunity I thought of a question I had been meaning to ask, "Hey Rei, do you feel comfortable with our current relationship?"

"I do not understand what you mean." She stated plainly.

"Rei, I am talking about Me, you, and Asuka. How do you exactly feel about all of this?" I tried to clarify.

"Shinji, I believe I love you. Asuka loves you too, therefor I have decided that sharing you with her is what I should do. I respect your wish to keep the relationship completely non-physical, other than that I feel as though no problem could arise. I however do wish to let you know, I do believe that right now, there are some secrets that we must hide from each other, I do understand most relationships are based on trust, but we need to open up to each other on our own terms. Asuka and I have our own issues we have to work out, just as I suppose you do, when we are ready, we will let you know, just as I hope you would do for us." She finished.

"Thank you Rei." I said as I took her hand and we walked to school.

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"RISE BOW SIT." Horaki said as she entered the room. I got several messages on my terminal mostly from Toji and Kensuke but one from Asuka.

"I think I am making dinner tonight." I replied to her message.

"So, Rei told me that you had a little talk." She sent back.

"Yeah, and I have been thinking about what she said. I think tonight we should just sit down and try to communicate after dinner." I sent back.

"If Wonder-girl agreed to it, I guess I will too." was her reply. I looked back at her from my desk. She didn't seem so sure when she caught my eyes.

At lunch we all went our separate ways, Rei and Asuka left with Hikari, I left with Toji and Kensuke.

"I GOT IT!" Kensuke yelled aloud, "THE BLUE AND RED ONI!" He finished.

"No offense, but aren't Oni supposed to look ugly?" I asked him.

"Well seeing as they are mythological creatures, I think they can be however they want to look." Toji replied for Kensuke.

"Either way, they are just like a duo of Oni, Rei is always so calm and Asuka is always so passionate." Kensuke added.

"Look could you lay off of them, I mean, I keep Asuka from laying into you guys, you could at least return the favor." I said.

"Man, I think you're in love. In any other case I would agree with it, but not with Red. She will probably use you then lose you." Toji said.

"I might be, either way, I know that I want y'all to stop making fun of them. Plus, I doubt Asuka would do that." I replied.

"They are titles man, the reason we even give them out is because we know they are important, Rei and Asuka are important to you, which means they are important to us. Though I still don't like the idea of being anywhere near the Red Devil." Toji replied.

"Thanks guys." I replied.

End Chapter 12

A/N: Yeah, much easier when all I have to do is check to make sure everything is in the right place.


	15. Interjection: Third Break

Intermission: 3rd Break

Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, any of the nice merchandise they have, anything relating to any of their character or even the script to the show. I will say I do wish to see the 4th movie to come out already, as I thought it would have been released this summer. Peace out.

A/N: Hello all, I am pleased to say, I am back, and intend to finish all my stories (eventually, this one is first and foremost). Quite a lot happened over the last 6 months that I cannot say was all good or bad, but I don't intend to let it affect me now that I can write again. As it says in the Life of Brian: "ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGH-T SIDE OF LIFE!" Bright side is, I am single and free again, and I got all my stuff back! And I no longer have to deal with idiots and them trying to take me to court that is thrown out because of a lack of evidence, and extreme amounts of evidence to the contrary.

Anywho, Just wanted to let everyone know, I plan on updating this story to the finish and then working on my other stories as I can.

Decided to actually do something here instead of just leave that note.

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"He is the messiah!" A group of people sitting out of Misato's apartment complex yelled.

"Am not!" Shinji yelled back, standing in the window, trying to make the gathering crowd go away. He was haggard from dealing with these people for long periods of time, not wanting to offend them, but not able to get them off the lawn.

Misato laughed, then crushed her beer can against her head. "Shinji, I swear if you don't get these people to somehow move, I AM GROUNDING YOU!" She had had enough of this bullshit. Shinji, the messiah... Nope. Not in her head. He was her ward, not a savor of peoples souls.

"WHY AREN'T THEY WORSHIPPING ME! I WAS THE ONE WHO WON THE LAST ATTACK! I AM BETTER THAN HIM IN EVERY WAY!" Asuka yelled from the kitchen, sitting at the table with her head in her arms, hurt at the fact they were worshiping the baka instead of her.

The people just kept at it, cheering and hollering, playing loud music now that the savior had been found.

Shinji hit his head repetitively against the door frame, trying to come up with and idea. "Eureka!" He shouted when he came up with one that would make the people stop seeing him as the messiah. He ran into the kitchen and grabbed Asuka, then sped though the back door to stand on the railing.

"Baka, unhand me right now. Who gave you the right to touch me? Don't tell me all that idiotic nonsense about you being holy has gotten into that puny mind of yours." Asuka snorted as she was pulled along, unknowing.

Shinji stopped in full view of all of his followers. "Listen to me, I am not the holy man. I can commit sin too, watch!" He yelled then turned to Asuka. Less than a second went by before he pushed his lips against her, much to her surprise.

Asuka then slapped him. "Idiot!" She yelled then slapped him again.

"THE MESSIAH HAS CHOSEN A WIFE! ALL HAIL THE MESSIAH'S WIFE!" The crowd went wild with joy.

Shinji just looked down. He had had enough of this and was wanting it all to end. "I am not the messiah." He said but no one was listening.

Asuka was still shocked at the proceeding events and could not think about anything else. He... had... just... kissed... her... 'What did he mean by doing that?' She wondered to herself while looking at the downcast boy. "Okay that's it." She had made up her mind. "ALL OF YOU! GET OUT OF HERE! OR ELSE BAKA-SHINJI WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SPEAK EVER AGAIN TO ANY OF YOU!" Asuka yelled into the crowd.

"RUN!" Someone from the crowd yelled and they all disappeared.

Asuka cracked her knuckles. "Now that is over with, we have some things to discuss Shinji. Particularly painful things for you and joyful for me."

"WAIT FOR ME!" Shinji yelled as he ran though the house at full speed down that stairs and away from her. Or he would have, had Misato not tripped him, planting him face first into the carpet in the living room.

"Hey Shinji." Misato said with a creepy tone of joy in her voice.

"hmm?" Shinji asked, scared.

"You lost." Misato said

"Err." Shinji replied getting up.

"And now Asuka is going to kick your ass." Misato said, nonchalant.

Shinji whimpered.

"And that should be enough for delaying my beer runs." Misato laughed evilly.

Asuka grabbed him by the neck and joined in the evil laughter. He was about to pay dearly for that bit of confusion.


	16. Chapter 13: Nightmares

Chapter 13: Nightmares

Gainax Disclaimer thing, as in, I do not own NGE, or NGE affiliates.

"I cannot kill this angel?" I was confused, I was called because of an angel attack and I could not figure it out.

"Pilot Ikari, the reason you are here is because you don't think. That might be the key to winning this fight." Dr. Ritsuko said.

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult, either way, don't care." I replied.

Dr. Ritsuko then started, "The angel is a collection of millions of microscopic entities that we cannot directly attack, kinda like a virus."

"So why am I here then?" I asked.

"Because you seem to have the ability to pull off extremely unlikely results, that and it is going to attack the simulation pods in about five minutes if we are correct, your pod should be affected first. So we thought it would be best to hook you up to the pod." Dr. Ritsuko answered.

"What!" They were giving me a death sentence. "Have you even asked Misato about this plan?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter. The Commander himself approved of this course of action." Dr. Ritsuko said with a sadistic grin across her face. They were going to kill me. I banged against the lid again and again until the pod began to glow orange. The little floating objects in the LCL began to tear away at my flesh, exposing patches of muscle and bone. Every excruciating detail of the torture inscribed itself upon my brain. I could feel as the flesh gave way to bone, and the bone to nothing. Even when there was nothing there, the nerves kept firing.

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Then I woke up. 'That was a weird dream.' I thought. I hadn't had a dream like that since before I moved here. Today had been a weird day though. I was called out because of an angel attack then dismissed because it was useless for me to even be there. The angel was a virus of some sort that was attacking the computers at NERV. Dr. Ritsuko had finally figured out how to kill the angel with the Magi. After the angel was dead we were left off of alert and I cooked dinner for everyone then returned to my apartment with both the girls. They had fallen asleep before me.

I looked at the clock, it was still way too early for me to get up, though I couldn't fall back asleep, getting up I walked into the kitchen and started coffee. When the coffee was done Rei walked into the kitchen without me noticing. I almost freaked out when she began to talk, "Shinji, why are you up so early?" she asked.

"Honestly I had a awful dream." I answered.

"Would you like to talk about it?" She asked. We had been working on opening up to each other. It was not going as well as planned but it always ended up with us doing something fun afterwards, last time it (somehow, I believe at Asuka request) ended up with us sparring upstairs.

"Rei, I have a question first, what are you doing up so early?" I asked.

"Pila woke me up when she heard noises." Rei answered. Guard dog raccoon... Somehow my mind could not wrap around that idea.

I began telling her my dream, and all the details I could remember. "Shinji, we need to talk." Rei then said looking horrified (as stoically as physically possible).

"Something wrong?" I began to ask.

"Shinji, have you been into the lower levels of the Geofront?" She asked still looking worried.

"Not that I know of, why?" I asked starting to feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Do you know where I come from?" Rei asked, slowly.

I looked at her puzzled, "No, not really. You haven't really talked about your life before NERV."

"I am from a series of clones. I am sorry for not telling you sooner." Rei said but missed a few beats.

"Rei, to me it doesn't matter where you come from, it is who you are now." I said trying to comfort her.

She looked a little relieved and spoke up once again. "Shinji, the genetic material they used to make me was from your mother."

"So?" I asked, not really caring.

"You would accept me knowing where I come from?" Rei asked still looking a little sad.

"Rei, how many times do I have to say I do not care about any of that. It is the you that is here now that I care about." I said getting pissed at her lack of self worth.

"Even if I am a monster?" Rei asked.

"Okay damn it... Look Rei, I can tell you are trying to say something that is hard for you... Just say it." I said to her.

"I am an angel." Rei then said.

"Er. What?" I was confused.

"I am an angel. I have angel DNA in me, I was built for the purpose of initiating the Third Impact, my purpose is to destroy humanity." She answered.

"Rei, I don't care. I love you all the same. My father may have built you, but it is you who can shape yourself." I told her.

"Thank you." Was all she said as she went back to her room. I thought I heard her crying, not the cries of sadness, but of joy.

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The next day after school we all headed to the Geofront. Rei was much happier since our little talk. Asuka even noticed but seemed to be indifferent. From what I was told we were here because they were going to see how well we sync with each others Evas. As expected no one could sync with Unit 01 but me. I was put in Unit 02. When it powered up I wasn't flushed anywhere but I couldn't break a 63% sync ratio. When Rei was placed in Unit 02 she immediately got to 74% compared to Asuka's regular of 97%.

Being placed in Unit 00 was very different. As soon as it booted up it went bezerk, it began gripping for the entry plug, realizing it couldn't reach the plug, it smashed itself against the walls of the complex. "Something is wrong, SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!" I started yelling as the Eva locked the entry plug in place. It began to crush the entry plug with me inside, the plug was groaning under the pressure. Unit 00 was regenerating bone tissue to crush the plug. The entry plug was ripped out of the Eva by Unit 02 with Rei inside a split second before the Eva would have crushed me. When the plug was ripped open from the outside I was pulled out by Asuka and Rei. "So, uh, WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?" I started yelling at the people sitting in the safety room.

"Pilot Ikari calm down. We do not know yet. You are safe now." Dr. Ritsuko began saying over the speakers.

"Safe? SAFE? I ALMOST DIED BACK THERE? DYING TO AN EVA, WHAT A WAY TO GO! Guy who fights angels for a living getting killed by a weapon used to fight angels. JUST FUCKING GREAT!" I was pissed. One tranq dart later and I forgot all about it.

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"Unit 00 is beyond repair." Dr. Ritsuko said as she filed her report. "Pilot Ayanami will have to be grounded." She finished.

"That is unacceptable." Gendo said.

"We don't have much of a choice right now." Dr. Ritsuko seeming to agree with him. "We should have Unit 03 before too long though. Nevada's accident has rendered the US in a state of panic. As soon as they can they will be sending it to us." Dr. Ritsuko then said.

"Get Unit 00 working again." Gendo said.

"Look even if I wanted to, the damage is~" She was interrupted.

"Dr. Ritsuko, that is an order." Gendo said tired of hearing her excuses.

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As we rid home Misato had some questions to ask Rei. "So, didn't Unit 00 do that when you tried syncing with it the first time?" Misato asked Rei.

"It did." Was all Rei said back.

"Do you have any idea why Rei?" I asked her, most of my muscles numb, but I could still move them.

"That Eva is the prototype to all Evas. For all intensive purposes it is just an angel with an entry plug attached to it's skull." Asuka answered for her.

"The Eva doesn't sync the same way with you as it would Rei, she has to overpower it to get it to work." Asuka seemed finished.

"You are somewhat correct Asuka." Rei said, then continued, "The difference between an Eva and the angels is the fact that the Eva have a soul stored in them, or at least parts of a soul. Unit 00 did not include this feature therefor making it impossible for anyone to sync with it that lacked certain attributes." She seemed to not want to be pushed any further about that fact, she was just coming to terms with being accepted because of her uniqueness.

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When we got home we still had a few hours of sunlight left. Rei and Asuka went up to the roof and started sparring. I tried to relax, "I don't care about any of the metaphysical bullshit. Why can't things just work like I want." I said as I laid down on the couch.  
"Hello Pilot Ikari." A voice said from the darkness. Grabbing my knife I got into a semi decent battle stance. "That won't be necessary. I am not here to hurt you. I only want to talk." A boy appeared out of the dark, he looked kind of like Rei. He had white ashen hair with glowing red eyes. "My name is Kaworu and we need to talk."

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"So, let me get this straight, You are for all intensive purposes, the same as Rei, just made out of Adam's DNA, SEELE and my father are trying to become gods by fusing all of humanity, and the reason you are here is because you don't like the idea of being a martyr without a choice, and think that if I knew what was going on their was a chance that I could stop it?" I asked trying to recap the conversation we had just had. It was taking me a few seconds to process all that information.

"That pretty much sums it up except one fact. I can trigger the Third Impact just like Rei, so if I become the new god, I can leave this planet, giving all you Lilin this planet and finding one of my own. I just need your help to accomplish this." Kaworu said.

"How do I know I can trust you?" I asked.  
"Well I don't see you having much of a choice. Either me or Rei will have to trigger the Third Impact. If Rei does it with Lilith that will mean the end of all life on Earth. If I do it that means the destruction of all the angels and peace for you, with me becoming a god." He said.

"What happens if I work against an impact even happening?" I didn't like the two options presented.

"Well, I would welcome you to try. As a hybrid I cannot be part of the instrumentality, I would be locked out, I am just giving you the options I see easiest to pull off. Plus, if Rei becomes the new god, she cannot return to humanity, she would forever be ripped away from you. The impact will destroy all life on Earth undoubtedly, though if I initiate it, I will return it before I leave, no harm done." He said with a slight smile.

"So, how exactly would I "help" you with this plan?" I asked while taking a sip of tea.

"You just need to keep doing what you already are. I will eventually be placed in Tokyo-3 for a time, when that happens, I will need you to help me assault the Geo front, once inside I will absorb Adam's soul becoming the new Adam and fuse with Lilith. Once that happens the impact will begin allowing me to become a god. All life will end for a moment then I will restore the world to right before I initiated the impact giving you back life." He answered.

"One last question. Can a Lilin, as you call them, become the new god?" I asked trying to understand how this all works.

"Not unless they become one with an angel, or have pure angel DNA. So no, technically Gendo nor SEELE can become gods, it would require them absorbing the soul for themselves." He answered almost reading my mind.

Rei walked in, noticing the other hybrid. "Shinji, are you all right?" She asked looking directly at the other hybrid in case he decided to kill me.

"Yes Rei, I am fine, Kaworu and I have just been talking." I answered her.

"May I inquire about what?" She asked shocked.

Before I could answer Kaworu did it for me, "I have found a way to spare you from starting the end of all life on earth." He said.

Rei was visibly shocked, she grabbed my knife and held it against his throat. "How much have you told him?" She asked.

"Enough for him to understand his role in this little game of theirs." He answered, then turned to me, "We will be in touch." He said then walked out.

"Shinji, I hope you understand why I could not tell you everything." Rei whispered.

"Rei, he told me how to save you, I am going to take it. You may have no hope right now, but I promise you I will do everything in my power to save you, and Asuka, and everyone else on this planet." I said smiling.

Asuka finally came in and sat down on at the table. "Time for dinner?" She asked. It was her night to cook, with my help of course. We were making a large helping of spaghetti, cooking a bit of beef on the side so she could add it to hers when we ate.

"So Shinji, why are you showing Rei more affection then me?" Asuka asked bluntly.

I stuttered, "I really don't see it as that way, Rei is opening up, I am just trying to help." I answered honestly.

"Bullshit. Y'all are leaving me out of something." She said under her breath.

"You have abandonment issues." I said looking straight into her blue eyes.

She stared back, "I... Shinji... I..." She couldn't even talk straight. Score Seven (I think) for Ikari.

"Look Asuka, I have been waiting patiently for you to open up, every time I try to push the issue, you push further away, it is as if you are afraid of getting to close to any one, hell, the only person who knows anything about you is Rei, and that is because you told her. If she is comfortable enough to discuss her issues, I think you would be too." I said.

"DID SHE TELL YOU SHE WAS AN ANGEL?" Asuka started yelling, trying to change the subject, or at least get it off of her.

"Actually yeah, she did. And I still accepted her, why do you think she has been so happy lately?" I asked.

"I... UM... fine." She said looking down.

"Look Asuka, I don't care how you do it, I love you, I just want you to understand that." I said pushing even deeper.

"Shinji, before I got here I was in Germany, I was born and raised there. My... family... was part of GEHIRN... My mother... she built... She built the Eva." Asuka was trying, I could see it in her eyes, she was about to start breaking down. "She built Unit 02 then went insane. She stole one of my dolls and replaced me. My father had left us and started screwing the whore of a doctor that was in charge of my mother. She took the doll and hung it, then hung herself. She wanted me to die with her, I watched her do it, she kept asking "Please die with me." She even once strangled me, purposely trying to kill me. My father disowned me and left me with Gehirn, not caring about me. They all left me, now you'll leave me too, I know it." She had hit the limit, she broke. "They all want to leave, no matter what happens, Momma left me, Dad left me, Kaji left me, NOW YOU AND REI ARE GOING TO LEAVE ME." She dropped what she was doing and ran into her room.

I followed, I couldn't stand to see her in this much pain. "Asuka, listen to me. I will never leave you. You and Rei are my life now. No matter what, I WILL find a way return. I will never leave you." She looked up at me, then she jumped on top of me (knocking me into the ground) and shoved her tongue down my throat. "MMPH! MMPH MMPH" I couldn't breath.

When she finally stopped I gasped for air. "Shinji, I love you. When this is all over, promise me that we all will live far away where no one can hurt us anymore." She was defenseless, she looked like she couldn't do anything, other than the fact she was on top of me, and from any other angle you could mistake her for being dominant.

"Asuka, I promise you, after this, Me, you and Rei will leave here, we will find our own place in the world. I will never leave you." I said after catching my breath for a second. Without warning she kissed me again, then just held onto me. "Asuka, I have to go finish dinner." I said still unable to move, held down by a very happy person.

"Oh, right." She said still holding me still.

"Asuka, that means you have to let go." I said.

"Right." She slowly let go, clearly not wanting to.

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That night after dinner, Asuka came in my room and lay down beside me. "Hey Shinji, wake up. Wake up!"

"Huh?" I asked, not even completely awake.

"Shinji, I was wondering, would you mind if me and Rei started sleeping in here with you?" She asked, semi nervous sounding.

"If that is what it takes to make y'all happy, sure." I said still mostly asleep.

Asuka then got up and walked out but quickly returned with Rei. Asuka then pushed her onto my bed and sat down herself. She grabbed a hold of Rei and pulled her down with her.

"Are you okay with this Shinji?" Rei asked. Not even talking I wrapped my arms around the both of them and felt them relax. I don't know who fell asleep first, but I do know it was a nice feeling.

End Chapter 13.

Song of my life right now: BACK IN BLACK by AC/DC

Side Note: I have been avoiding using other character's perspectives. Anyone who knows the story to NGE will be able to piece together the puzzle, those who don't SPOLIER WARNING, SPOLIERS LIE AHEAD.

Misato find out Kaji is a SEELE spy. Kaji shows her what he believes is Adam. Misato shoots Kaji for being a spy. Happy happy joy joy! Things die, get reborn, die again, ITS THE CIRCLE OF LIFE! People go insane, write random stuff.

The plot of NGE is instrumentality (kinda/sorta, not exactly clear cut.) Gendo is a dick planning on godhood, Kaworu and Rei are hybrid angel/humans, therefore could trigger an impact. A NERV base disappeared in America, causing issues. Gendo and Dr. Ritsuko are sleeping together. Kaworu helps Shinji in the end. The only canonically surviving characters are Asuka and Shinji maybe Rei if you count the fact she turns into God, transcends the need for a mortal body, then destroys her new body to bring life back to the world. Yadda yadda yadda.


	17. Chapter 14: Loliel, or Whatever

Chapter 14: Loliel or whatever Ritsuko keeps saying.

Disclaimer: Read earlier parts, They have a good summary of my last disclaimers, disclaiming dueling ownership of the difficult to devour and discuss series of depression and delight that would describe the darling disks of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

"This is going to kill me." I said looking at the the pile of homework, still being stacked higher.

"Mr. Ikari, just because you are a celebrity, that doesn't mean you don't have to do homework." Teach said.

"But this is a little excessive don't you think?" I asked him still despairing over the already four inch think stack of single pages.

"You do not have enough grades to pass at this point." He said.

"But I have aced every exam you have given me. Doesn't that count as something?" I asked unamused, if there was anything I hated worse than angels, it was homework.

"You may have great exam grades but they only count as a third of your final grade." He said looking displeased.

"Fine." I said as I gathered my work and walked out to join Asuka and Rei.

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It had been a had been a few week since I had made my promise, and I was fully planning on keeping that promise. Kaworu's help in giving me insight was beyond useful, especially since it gave me a new outlook on the future. Asuka and Rei are now getting along like sisters. Misato is happy once again with Kaji (THANK GOD, THAT WOMEN DESERVES A BREAK SOMETIMES), My father is still lost somewhere in Antarctica for some reason, and everything is going great. Especially my father being lost in Antarctica, that part was the frosting on the top of everything that was happening so far.

"If only things coul~ "doch der Haifisch lebt im Wasser so die Tränen sieht man nicht." My phone was going off, I loved my new laptop being able to download old music and sync with my phone and MP3 players. I had given most of them out as presents, but I kept one to replace my SDAT, thing kept breaking on me.

"OH SHIT" as I remember what ringtone that was. I quickly picked up the phone and checked, grimacing when I looked at it. Shortly thereafter Rei and Asuka found me and we left school. "Sayonara useless homework." I said happily as we left.

"Shinji, I placed your homework in my bag, the class representative didn't want you forgetting it." Rei then said.

"Did you really have to?" She had instantly killed my vibe.

"If you didn't pass you would not be in the same class as us next year which I cannot allow." Rei answered.

"But if I am overworked by homework, there might not be a next year." I said grudgingly.

"Would you shut up? If you fail I will personally make sure you regret it." Asuka said.

"I also collected your homework too Asuka, you have missed almost as many assignment as Shinji has." Rei added in.

"WHAT?" Asuka yelled before Misato's small car peeled out in front of us.

"GET IN!" Misato yelled with a smile.

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Getting to NERV was easy other than MISATO NOT BEING ABLE TO DRIVE, other than that it only took us a quarter of an hour to get into the Geofront. After changing and getting into the Evas we were briefed.

"This angel is a giant sphere, we don't have any idea of what it's abilities are, we are figuring it is like Ramiel, so watch out in case."

Not knowing which angel was Ramiel cause the use of code names were rather recent designations from what I gleamed, I asked a pretty stupid question. "Which one was Ramiel?"

"Pilot Ikari... YOU... HAVE... GOT... TO... BE... KIDDING..." Dr. Ritsuko seemed angry.

"Okay, lets put it this way, it's the one you almost broke down in, you know, "so sorry, so sorry."" She said.

"Way to rub salt into old wounds" I said under my breath. "In that case, I demand you do not allow Rei or Asuka out." Immediately picking up on what she was talking about. "I will not let that happen again."

"Request denied." Asuka said over the com channel. "I've read that file and watched that fight. We are not letting you go do a suicide mission." She added shortly after that.

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When they powered up my Eva I apparently had a lower sync rate than usual. I just couldn't get that event off of my mind. Rei had already told me that she did die but that she was just put into a new body. It still didn't help that she didn't have any memories of what happened after I got her out of her pod, but I saw happily, she was here with me now. Unit 00 had been rebuilt and upgraded, also repainted a light shade of blue with small amount of green, colors of the sea, kinda like the clothes she had been wearing lately. She had finally found something to wear other than the clothes she picked up on our trip and her school uniform. Not to mention they looked really good on her. 'And I am getting all sorts of distracted right before a battle now aren't I?' I thought to myself.

"Units Launch!" Misato yelled, she was working as Commander since my father and his assistant have been missing. We were launched up into the sky.

"Okay, is that the angel?" I asked looking a black and white sphere, same colors as my Eva.

"Yes." Rei said.

"WELL, LET'S DO THIS THEN!" Asuka yelled and shot at the angel with her handgun, she had taken the lesson about using weapons you are familiar with to heart. She had Misato take her to the NERV gun range inside the Geofront as often as she could. Charging in she fired a few more shots before the angel just disappeared.

"The angel has disappeared." Dr. Ritsuko yelled over the coms.

"Where?" Asuka asked clearly displeased.

"ASUKA RUN!" Rei said as she noticed the hole below Asuka open. Asuka heard a second too late and started sinking.

"NOPE!" I yelled as I grabbed her arms and tried pulling her up. Rei had gotten beside me and started pulling the other one. Groaning against the force Asuka's arms started to hyper extend, she began crying out in pain.

"Shinji, Rei, I'M SORRY!" Asuka yelled before she dis attached her arms letting her fall into the pit.

I snapped. "NOT HAPPENING." I said as I jumped into the hole and grabbed Asuka in a hug. I was not going to let another one get away, not while I was still alive. Wrapping her with my power cable, I tied it where she could not be pulled any further. "Rei pull the cable." I whispered. She must have had heard me though because less than a second later Asuka began to rise out of the pit. Something grabbed me and I had to let go Asuka or we would both die. "I'll be back, even if I HAVE TO RIP MY OUT OF HELL TO GET BACK TO YOU!" I yelled as I let go. The com channel had grew silent long ago but I had a feeling they could hear me when Asuka began thrashing against the cable. Once she was out the hole above me with the last bit of light closed off.

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"Eh, if I die, at least I can die happy." I said before shutting down all major systems except for life support. I looked at the power timer, 6 hour's remaining with the lowest setting. "Great." I said sarcastically. I wasn't going to go out with a bang, or by falling to my enemies in battle, I was going to do it slowly wasting away in my Eva. I started to feel really cold. Before too long I was flushed away, this time not into my Eva's mind.

Waking up I noticed the sign above me. "Silent Hill, Maine." I read, "OH FUCK NO, I DON'T CARE WHAT THIS IS, I AM NOT GOING IN THERE." I started shouting.

"Oh come on now, this is going to be fun." I heard from behind me.

"What the fuck?" Looking behind me stood Psycho, all geared up and ready to kill.

The scene changed, we were stuck in a forest now. "well fuck..." I said. "Do you have any idea what is happening?" I asked. The forest looked really trippy and moving.

"We are in your head." He replied

"SINCE WHEN DID MY MIND INCLUDE SILENT HILL?" I asked.

"Since you decided that it would be cool place to visit." Psycho started laughing at his remark. I decided just to shut up and follow the only path that was available with him following me.

When we saw where the path ended a man in a white robe stopped us. "I am it whom your kind calls Lelial. I would like to talk." He said.

"Oh great, now I have to sit down and talk with the enemy." I said looking nowhere in particular.

"Do you know why we are here?" He asked.

"I am going to guess it either has to do with you being pissed that you aren't the dominant species on Earth or the fact that we have Adam and without him you cannot advance." I answered to the best of my ability.

"We want our father back, without him, our family is dead." He said back to me.

I looked him in his nonexistent eye holes, "And with him, you intend to destroy my race. This isn't sounding like a fair bargain."

He took a deep breath, "We have the right to do as we please. We are stronger than your species as a whole."

With that Psycho had gotten behind him and shoved a knife into where his heart would be then offered me his heart. Taking it I ripped into it, feeling the hunger rise I started ripping into the rest of the angel. "If I die, you will die with me." Lelial said as we ripped into him.

I was pushed out of the angel's mind. Then flushed into the mind of my Eva. "What the fuck just happened?" A metaphorical mini me appeared in front of me. It didn't say anything, but I could hear its thoughts in the center of MY FUCKING MIND.

"I know understand you, just as you understand me." The second me thought.

"Look uh... I DON'T UNDERSTAND SHIT." I said to it.

"That will change soon enough." Right after it said that he said that he grabbed my arm. I then fused with it. Everything returned, from my memories to the most basic of my feelings. I even learned a bit from the Eva. Then I was flushed out of my head. I had literally full control over my Eva. "RISE FROM THE SEA OF DEATH." I yelled as I smashed straight through the barrier.

"I'M BACK!" I yelled as I burst forth.

"SHINJI?!" Asuka yelled still arm less.

"WHATUP!" I was extremely pumped.

"HOW?" is all she yelled back.

Dr. Ritsuko then spoke for herself. "HOW IN THE HELL ARE YOU STILL MOVING?" She noticed that I had no power. "YOU HAVE AN S2 IN YOUR EVA?" She didn't understand what was happening, neither did I, I just didn't happen to care.

"So, how long was I gone?" I asked.

"Ten seconds." Rei answered, I could hear the relief in her voice.

"Yeah, sorry about that... OH and the angel is dead now." I said smiling.

"Mission success." Misato said over the com channel. Voice shaky from witnessing the death and rebirth of one Unit 01.

"Hey Asuka, can you get up?" I asked. She seemed to be having issues. Getting tired of watching her struggle I walked over to her Eva and lifted it and began to carry it bridal style.

"Shinji... What happened in there?" She asked on the pilot only coms.

"Er, I don't even know. But I can now pretty much pick my sync level with my Eva, not only that but I have infinite power with it too! Don't exactly know how to make it work for anything other than this passive crap, but I do have it, I think." I answered smiling.

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"Do a full scan of the Eva, and Shinji, check for any contamination." Dr. Ritsuko yelled as she walked into the room.

"Oh come on, wouldn't I be dead if something like that would have happened?" I asked until they shoved me into a pair of handcuffs. I called out to Rei and Asuka, "Y'all are probably on your own for dinner tonight." half joking.

After countless test and half a dozen sets of having blood drawn, I finally got the results.

"His system is completely clear. Nothing is out of the ordinary, his adrenaline and endorphin levels are high, but within normal levels for him, especially after what he just went through." The nurse said with Dr. Ritsuko reading the reports.

"Pilot Ikari, you are free to go." She said dismissing me still starring at the papers.

"Sure." I said as I got up and left.

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I checked around the hospital, no one was there and my phone was still in Misato's car along with my school stuff. "Eh fuck it." I said as I walked through the hallways towards the front door.

"Need a ride?" I heard someone say. Turning around I saw Kaji standing there, holding his keys in his hand.

"Uh. Sure." I said taking him up on his offer.

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After we left NERV he began talking, "Look, Shinji, I want you to know I care about Misato. I wouldn't let anything in the world hurt her if I could stop it." He said, I think trying to gain my approval.

Knowing where this was going I thought up a reply quickly, "Kaji, look, Misato is like an older sister to me, nothing more, if you make her happy, I am happy for her, just know, if you do end up hurting her, I will hurt you worse, like use the Eva to throw you like a football into the sun worse, or crush you underfoot, or use an Eva sized weapon to completely annihilate you worse.." I said still smiling.

"I don't think I would have it any other way." he said then continued,

"Nice job with Asuka by the way, I don't think I have ever seen her happier."

"Thanks, she is one hell of a girl." I said back.

"If you are worried about anything that may have happened between us, I can guarantee you now, I never touched her. I was her guardian, not her lover." Kaji said half disgusted with Asuka's infatuation with him.

"No offense man, but I think she is long over you now." I said to him, happy to have this time to talk. When we arrived at the apartments, both of us had relaxed with eachother's company. Kaji found me to be a little high strung, while I found him a little disturbing when he started talking about "how to pleasure a woman." I headed up the elevator with him to our floor and we parted ways.

Walking in I was greeted by a strange sight, both of them were awake, sitting on the couch. "Uh, Hi, I'm home." I said as they look up to the door.

"We ate without you, sorry Shinji, there are leftovers in the fridge." Rei said as her eyes went back to the television.

"Is something wrong?" I asked when both of them were still starring at the TV set.

"Death toll seems to be in the thousands." I heard it then. I quickly sat down on the couch and watched with them. "Four of the shelters made for angel attacks have disappeared. The total of expected deaths is 1,700. We would like to observe a moment of silence for those who have lost their lives today." The TV reporter said as she hung her head low.

"What is she talking about?" I asked aloud.

"Shinji, it's not your fault." Rei said.

"What. is. She. Talking. About?" I asked again.

"Shinji, you could not have protected them, they were absorbed into the angel." Rei clarified.

"Bullshit. I am in the Eva to protect people. Those people trusted me, and now their dead." I said about to start crying. "I was responsible for their lives. Before today do you know what the official death number was? It was fifteen. Not fifteen hundred, just fifteen. I failed seventeen hundred people today."

Asuka then got up and turned off the TV. She then walked to me and slapped me. "Shinji, you weren't the only one out there. I hope you realize, their deaths aren't just on you. There on all of us. Not a single one of us is innocent in this." She said staring me in the eyes. "We couldn't have stopped it even if we had tried." She said biting her lower lip.

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That night was restless for all three of us. I personally felt wracked with guilt about what happened, I didn't know what Rei and Asuka were feeling. I was the last one awake, except for maybe Pila, but the raccoon didn't sleep in my room usually, she had a small room to herself, and had already figured out how to use the door. That raccoon was too smart for her own good.

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The next few days were good enough, everyone getting along. Every weekend or so, the guys and I went "camping" in the old ruins of the outer towns. Some people regarded them as holy, I just regarded them as they have cool stuff. We got a lot of cool shit from there, I even found a few swords in a abandoned storeroom.

"Hey, Shinji, I have a question man." Toji said.

"Sup?" I answered.

"Er... It's about the uh... fuck it... Shinji, I am about to be the pilot of Unit 03." He said.

"So? You want to know something?" I asked instantly steaming. I didn't want anyone else having to deal with my problems, or becoming another one of them.

"How is... you know... Piloting?" He asked.

"Painful as hell, I wake up in the hospital more often than not, I even once had to wait for them to seal my chest after I managed to get impaled. Everything that happens to the Eva you can feel, not to mention, if your Eva dies, you go along with it." I answered him honestly.

"You remember my sister? I have to do it for her. They are going to send her to America where she can get the help she needs. Even if I don't survive, they promised that she would be taken care of for the rest of her life." Toji then said.

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The next few days went pretty well, other than the news I was relayed. I was absolutely pissed about that. "How can you let Toji do this?" I asked Misato as we sat at the table.

"It was not up to me. I wasn't informed of it until after you were." She said while chugging a beer happily, then continued, "it really doesn't matter though, the law provides that only three Evas can remain active at any one time, so even if he does get this job, he wont do anything unless something happens to... uh... never mind."

"Unless one of us dies." I said understanding.

"Well, that seems unlikely, you pretty much invalidate the concept of MIA." She said laughing.

"Thanks Misato." I said as I got up and left, feeling a singe of doubt and a premonition coming on strong that something bad was going to happen.

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A week later.

"Er... That's Unit 03, not an angel." I said looking at the Eva slowly approaching.

"The Unit has been contaminated. It must be destroyed." Dr. Ritsuko yelled over the coms.

"Contaminated meaning what?" I asked, still in disbelief.

"The Eva has been turned into an angel, all biological life on it is now angel." She said.

"Sorry, not possible, Toji is in there, not possible." I said.

"Pilot Ikari, he is no longer human." She said.

"Where is Rei and Asuka?" I asked trying to stall.

"Rei and Asuka are both stuck in a sealed tunnel, they are fine." She said reassuringly.

"Where is Misato then?" I asked, still stalling as the Eva approached. "She was at the test site." Dr. Ritsuko said.

"She was what?" I was in disbelief.

"We currently don't have any idea whether or not she... survived... the incident." She said.

The Eva was close enough to engage. Turning on my outer speakers I began trying to talk, "Toji, can you hear me?" His response was to punch me. "Toji, snap the fuck out of it." I yelled. I was then hit again, this time thrown into a nearby plateau. The Eva lept onto me and I kicked it away. "Okay, Fuck it, Manual extraction time." I said as I got up and grabbed the back of his Eva. "This might hurt a bit." I said. Ramming my fingers through his armor, I grabbed his entry plug. Getting a better hold of it, I sat it down safety on a rooftop. "Time for you to die." I said to the remaining husk. I raised my level a bit and punched the Eva's head. It began to scream out in pain. Knowing from that sign that this was working I began to slowly wear out the Eva. I slowly beat through it's chest plate exposing it's core. "TIME FOR A PHOTO FINISH!" I yelled as I knelt it down in front of me, taking my hand back I prepared to strike. Less than a second later I had shoved my hand straight through the angel's core.

I quickly returned to the building, backing my Eva to where the entry plug was level with the building I ejected. "Don't worry Toji, help is on the way!" I said as I ran to the pod. I opened the pod with a small pry bar. The inside was filled with something different then LCL. I couldn't see shit when I found the first thing that wasn't metal and started pulling. After I had extracted it from the pod I slowly got my sight back. "Toji... OH GOD WHAT THE FUCK?" I yelled as I looked at what had become of my friend. He looked like a corpse that had been floating in water for months, he was barely breathing, I knew he was not going to make it. Then he attacked me. He had gotten a hold on my neck and was applying a shit ton of pressure. I took the pry bar and hit him, and again, and again, until his head split open, revealing a somewhat translucent brain and white blood. The monster that was once my friend doubled up on it's force, grabbing my shoulder and slamming me into the concrete below us. I swung at it again, missing. It then pounced, pushing it's arms into my chest, trying to crush my ribs. I quickly got a firm grip on my crowbar and jabbed it through his rib cage, lest he break mine.

He then returned to himself, or as close as he could "Shinji, HACKING COUGH, you were right. Please promise me... You... will take care of..." He died. My first friend in all of this hell hole had just died, and it was my fault for getting him involved. I had literally just killed someone who felt like my brother.

"Toji, Toji, come on man, wake up, wake the FUCK UP, TOJI, COME ON MAN, WAKE UP!" I began to shake him. He was gone, but I could not accept it.

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"Shinji, do you understand?" Dr. Ritsuko asked again.

"I just killed Toji." was all I said back.

"He was infected. He would have killed you." She said.

"That doesn't excuse the fact I JUST FUCKING BASHED MY BEST FRIEND'S BRAINS IN ONCE HE STARTED TO COME BACK TO LIFE AFTER I STABBED HIM." I said starting to scream, "YOU KNOW WHAT HE WANTED? HIS SISTER TO BE SAFE. YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED? YALL PUT A DAMN LITTLE GIRL INTO THE GOD DAMN EVA TO MAKE IT FUNCTION. YOU PROMISED HIM THAT YOU WOULD TAKE CARE OF HER." I yelled with an accusatory tone.

"Throw him in the cell." Was all she said.

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"Thirteen bottles of beer on the wall, thirteen bottles of beer, take one down, give it to Misato, twelve bottles of beer on the wall." I sang waiting for whatever was going to happen next. I had no idea how long it had been since I was thrown in here, but counting the times I had retrieved a tray of food, I would have guessed three days or so. Finishing my song I got pissed. They had taken everything away from me other than this weird plug suit like full body suit. The major difference was there was a few places that metal contacted the body. Had I known any better I would have guessed it worked on the same principles as a shock collar. "FUCK" I yelled as I punched the wall again. I had done that a lot lately, maybe once every hour or so. I had also found the camera that was in the room and "re positioned" it into the inside of the communications monitor in the cell. If anyone was going to talk to me, they would be doing it in person.

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Another day or two had passed when I finally was allowed a visitor. "Shinji." Misato said sadly as she walked in.

"Hi Misato, glad to see that you are okay. I was told you were probably dead." I said looking up, she was not here because she could theoretically help me.

"I am glad to see that you are okay too." She said semi relieved. "Do you know why you are here?" She asked.

"I am going to guess it has something to do with Dr. Ritsuko's guards having "mysterious" stab wounds and the threat that I would take her apart organ by organ until she brought Toji back." I answered honestly. Misato cringed at every part.

"Do you realize that you killed two men? Two human beings? Two people that had families?" She asked.

"Yeah, I do, not the first time. I really don't care." I said shocking her.

"YOU'VE DONE WHAT?" She was shocked.

"I have killed people before, I don't care about their families, they signed up for it when they took the job. I was just made to MURDER one of my friends, what about his family? You know, the ones that are also now dead? You know what? His little sister was dissolved into the LCL so that the soul of the Eva was easier to sync with. That means I killed both Toji and his little sister at the same time. I just killed my best friend and the reason he died was for his little sister which I killed. He died in vain, by my hands, because of that sick bitch you have in charge right now." I said to her. I could see it in her eyes that she knew I was right, but I knew as well as she did that she could do nothing about it.

"Shinji, I have got to go, they only will give me a minute with you, I'm sorry." She finally said.

"Tell Rei and Asuka I am sorry." Was all I said as she walked out.

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Two weeks had passed, I had started keeping a score. I had not seen or heard a soul since Misato. I mostly spent my days working out or meditating. It was all I could do in this small cell. I was doing sit ups when I noticed the door open.

"Shinji." My father had walked in.

"Sup Dad." I said still doing sit ups, not paying him any attention. I was not that desperate for interaction.

"Do you realize what you have done?" He asked.

"I killed two men, probably ruined your plan of becoming a god, was forced into breaking my promise to Rei and Asuka, threatened to kill your top researcher/lover and killed my best friend. Anything I am missing?" I asked switching to push ups.

Glaring at me he began to speak. "I do not know who told you of my plans, and right now I do not care. I am going to say this now. I am going to give you one last chance. I will let you live and pilot, but if you try anything like that again. I will kill you."

"Er... That's great and everything, but I already know that if you kill me, Rei will no longer help you with your Instrumentality bullshit." I finally stopped and looked at him.

"Rei will do whatever I say. I can always just restart with her. Just remember the fact that she is replaceable, I can and will." He said trying to control me.

"You wouldn't dare." I said glaring at him.

"I have already started to proceed with the plan. Both Rei and Asuka have had a virus planted in them. If I wish I can make the virus kill them slow and painful." He said, "All I have to do is stop providing the drugs that keep it at bay. Think about that the next time you think about disobeying orders."

"What do you want?" I asked, feigning defeat.

"You will do as I say." He said, thinking he won.

End Chapter 14.


	18. Chapter 15: Back Home

Chapter 15: Back Home

Gainax disclaimer

I was released that day into Misato's care under certain new rules. I was not allowed to be armed at NERV. I was not allowed near Dr. Ritsuko under any circumstance. And I was not to tell anyone of what me and my father discussed. Asuka and Rei were very pleased at my release, more than I had ever seen them before. Though I do really wish that Asuka hadn't taken to trying to break my arm for leaving her alone. Rei was more concerned about the growing pile of homework that I had reassured her multiple times I would do, eventually. Though I realized they didn't know anything about the fight. Nothing of what happened was told to either of them.

"So why were you locked up?" Asuka asked honestly not knowing.

"I killed two guards and would have killed Ritsuko had I gotten the chance." I wasn't told I couldn't tell the about the case, just about... the... virus... Asuka had long gone silent at this point. Rei was just watching me. "Do you know what happened out there?" I asked trying to break the silence.

"You were sent out to kill Unit 03." Asuka said quietly.

"The Mission was successful." Rei added.

"Guess who the pilot of Unit 03 was." I then said.

"Some American." Asuka dismissed it as if it were nothing.

"Nope, it was Toji, I killed him, not before having a chat with him, you know his little sister that was always out? Yeah, she was dissolved into the Eva, I technically killed her too." I had shocked them. I had a clear image of her, set right as I gave her candy and spent time with her. I wanted nothing more than for her to get better when I did that.

"What?" Asuka asked in disbelief.

"I murdered Toji, by bashing his brains in, and killed his little sister." I tried to clarify.

"Shinji, it is not your fault." Rei then said.

"Actually I have been thinking about it. Toji wouldn't have been selected unless he already somewhat understood the Eva. He wouldn't have been picked unless he was close to one of us." I said.

"Did you really kill two men?" Asuka asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"From now on, just forget about it. If you don't bring it up, I won't." Asuka then said. "Rei, what about you?" She then asked Rei.

"I believe that he upheld the way of the samurai." Rei said, then added, "It was in his right to avenge his friend, and he is a better man for doing it."  
"Um... Wow Rei... that's a er... different way of viewing it." Asuka said shocked.

"Thank you Rei, but I don't think you want to go around spreading your view, might not be many fans." I said.

"Does it displease you? The wife of a samurai should be dedicated to her husband." She asked.

"Not personally but I do not ~Wait... what was that about the wife?" I asked confused.

"The wife of a samurai should be dedicated to her husband." She said again.

"Um... Rei, I do not think we are married. You do not have to do that." I said trying to convince her.

"It is my pleasure." was all she said then smiled.

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That night I let them cook, I was told to just stay put. I had started on the trivial homework, there was just so much of it though, but I finally finished. "Is tomorrow a school day? I don't know what day it is." I called into the kitchen/dining room.

"Tomorrow is Tuesday." Rei called back.

"Thanks." I yelled returning the papers to the bags, I realized there was something at the bottom of the bag, a note.

"Dear Ikari, You remember what you said about Toji? I don't think he is the only one that is dense. ~Hikari."

"Well that path is probably closed." I said to myself.

"Something wrong?" Asuka asked, walking into the living room.

"Nothing at all." I said thinking about tomorrow.

"Supper is ready." Rei called into the room.

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We ate and it was good, after that Asuka started the dishes and I took a shower. Then I went outside and gathered whatever rocks I could and threw them in a small bag. After getting as many as I could I went up to the roof, seeing as I was not allowed to disappear. I set a small cairn for my friend. "Sorry man, it ain't much, but I don't think I can do much more for now." I said, attempting a half decent shrine.

Sleep that night was not easy, but it eventually came. I got up and started breakfast, and coffee. When everything was done I woke Asuka, Rei had already awoke and was somewhere else in the building, probably with the raccoon. After I found Rei, we all ate in total silence. "Well, it's now or never." I said as we walked to school.

Walking into the classroom everyone went silent. Rei and Asuka had gone before me, I had to talk to the principle. "RISE BOW SIT" A voice that I was sure was the class rep yelled. Looking around I noticed Kensuke was also gone, so were three or four others. I handed in the homework.

"Good for you to join us Mr. Ikari." The teach said.

"Yeah, sorry, I was locked in a jail cell." I said then Asuka tried to rephrase it.

"He was being watched in case of contamination." With that the teacher went silent. I went back to my desk and got out a piece of paper and a pen.

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Lunch came around and I decided now was better than ever.

"Hey Hikari, got a second?" I asked.

"Sure Ikari, something wrong?" She asked.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

"Kensuke and his family moved off last week, most of the others are the same." She said specifically avoiding Toji.

"Does the school know?" I asked sure that she had already heard or knew.

"We all know that Toji was in Unit 03." She said near breathlessly, then decided something for herself.

"Shinji, Thank you." She said.

"I'm sorry, I think I heard you wrong, WHAT?" I asked, she had just thanked me. I killed Toji and she thanked me.

"Thank you." she said biting her lower lip.

"You didn't let him do anything he would have regretted." She said.

"Yeah..." I said looking down. I noticed her hand was on my back.

"Er. Hikari, I found your note." I said and watched her turn red.

"Forget it. Sorry I put that in there." She replied.

"Understandable." I dismissed it.

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I stayed after school that day with Hikari and helped clean. It was time consuming but I had to make up for time skipped. She started yelling at me about my lack of order.

"Er... I can't have a problem with something I don't have." I quipped back.

"Smart-ass." She said.

"So you curse too? What's next? Partying and Bisexuality?" Snark mode activated.

She didn't even take a second to respond with, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Nice save."

"Thanks." After everything was said and done I headed home.

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"So how did it go?" Asuka asked as I sat down.

"Don't know." I said.

"What do you mean you don't know? I swear to whatever god you believe in I will kill you if I find out you tried something." She said frowning.

"By trying something... You mean something along the lines of the analogy to the baseball terms right?" I asked holding back a grin.

"Huh?" She didn't get it.

"Baseball... You know, first base, second base, third, home run?" I almost burst out in laughter.

"One sec. REI DO YOU KNOW ANY ANALOGIES TO BASEBALL?" She yelled further into the apartment. Rei then appeared with her book and sat down on the couch.

"The only analogy I know of with those terms is one about sex." She answered honestly. Asuka looked shocked.

"WAIT, DID YOU HAVE SEX WITH HER?" She screamed grabbing me and shaking.

"NO... COULD... YOU... STOP... DOING... THAT?" I said getting throttled across the couch. Rei then grabbed Asuka's arms and pulled them off of me.

"Asuka, I do believe that he has not done anything like that with the Horaki girl." Rei tried to assure her.

"Good..." Asuka said shielding her face with her hair.

"Look... I don't understand why you would be freaking out about that. If I did try anything like that it would be with y'all first, but I don't think that is going to happen any time soon." I said.

"Oh..." Asuka said failing to hide her disappointment, then beamed up at the y'all part. "PER-VERT! What makes you think that you would even have a chance?" Asuka said aloud.

"Well, I think Rei would be open to the idea if I know her well enough." As I said this Rei actually blushed, it was really cute.

"And I will remind you of the fact that technically I could say we have been sleeping together for weeks." I said playing a bluff.

"YOU WOULDN'T DARE!" Asuka started yelling again.

"And the fact that you have already shoved your tongue down my throat seems to push the fact that I don't think that you would be too far from accepting the idea of doing something further." I finished.

"She has done what?" Rei asked, the atmosphere turning electric, climate dropping several degrees at once.

"Rei, it's not what you think I just had a moment of weakness... Where did you get that knife? Why are you OH SHIT." Asuka had started dodging a very aggravated Rei.

"Er... I miss something?" I asked watching the show...

"She promised to not do anything until we were all ready." Rei answered.

"Oh..." I said still watching.

"Its not my fault." Asuka said still dodging, somehow got a hold of a rolling pin and began to fight back.

"One sec." I said I stepped between them. I got a hold on Rei's wrist and pulled her close and kissed her. She seemed to melt away instantly. I had some trouble pulling back. Rei was a pro at Judo or something because she pretty much locked me into place. When I eventually was able to pull back. "See? Now y'all are equal." I said looking at the drunken looking Rei and steaming Asuka.

"Equal..." Rei said still somewhat groggily.

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Dinner seemed tense that night. Rei had gained most of her composure back but kept blushing. Asuka was angrily glaring at Rei. "So, y'all want to go upstairs?" I asked waiting for the reply.

"YES!" Asuka nearly screamed, reveling in the idea of making Rei pay.

"If it would please y'all." Rei said still blushing.

"One sec, I am getting my weight vest." I said as I went to retrieve my 50 lbs. Vest. It dampened the blows and made me somewhat slower which helped Asuka and Rei stand a chance, they also took away my practice knives and gave me a bokken instead. It was tough to try to learn a weapon I wasn't used too at first but I slowly got better.

We headed up and Asuka fully geared grabbed her naginata. Rei grabbed the other one. "Rei?" I asked not understanding her new choice.

"I believe this is the proper weapon for a wife." She said still blushing. I just shrugged, though I could almost swear that Asuka was about to start steaming again. I put the bokken in a small sash I was using to hold it and stood a distance away from them. As soon as the chime on the timer went off Asuka shot towards Rei.

"SO DEAD!" She yelled as she charged with her naginata braced in her hands trying to impale with the wooden prop. Rei without effort blocked her blow.

"Am I now?" She asked showing a fire in her eyes. In less than a second Rei had already tripped Asuka with the end of hers. I drew my bokken waiting patiently. Asuka and Rei just kept up dodging and blocking each other, not a single blow landing on either one of them. This dragged on for a minute then half an hour.

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Getting bored I snuck back inside and started dishes. After I finished the last plate, I noticed it had been about an hour since we first went up. I checked on them, they were still at it. "Damn." I said to myself. Usually by now one or the other had decided to call it quits. I went back into the apartment and started straightening things up. When that was done I finally redonned my vest and bokken and went up. They were still at it, so I unsheathed my sword and braced myself for what was about to happen. I took the bokken and struck each weapon with a precise blow, knocking the weapons out of their hands. Then everything went to shit when they started going hand to hand. "What the fuck..." I said as I was disarmed a second later by Rei and Asuka. I was then thrown out of the fight by Asuka who yelled "Stay out of this." As she went back to trying to get a strike on Rei. Rei was just redirecting her blows and using Asuka's force against her like a practitioner of Akido. This went on for what felt like an eternity before both Rei and Asuka seemed out of energy. They ended propping up on each other back to back. "Y'all done yet?" I asked.

"Nope." Asuka said as she stood back up and charged me trying to deliver a strike. "As long as one of you is still standing, I lose." She said still trying even at her limit. With that I let her connect a strike then kneeled down.

"Happy now?" I asked watching as she cringed in pain upon striking the vest. The 50 pound part was from being filled with tiny iron balls in patches around the vest. Rei had snuck up behind her and delivered a forceful strike to Asuka's back, stunning her.

"I believe I win." She said as Asuka fell. "That is unless you want to get back up Shinji." She said looking at me.

"Do you really think you could take me?" I asked still kneeling. I knew Asuka would stay down. I don't think she had anymore energy to burn.

"I do." She said smiling. I began to rise and felt a blow to the stomach. It didn't hurt much because the vest padded the blow. Rei tried to hide the fact that probably hurt her hand worse than me. She was still in full armor so I knew attacking might be near useless. All her movements seemed so measured. I then thought up a plan. I charged and drug my shin underneath her legs putting her off balance. Watching her fall I grabbed a hold of her and put her in a lock I thought she could not get out of. Within seconds I was face first into the roof.

"God damn it." I said feeling deja vu.

"Do you submit?" She said sitting on my back holding her fist in the air right between my shoulder blades.

"Hmm... Let me think about it." I said noticing Asuka had disappeared from where she was laying earlier.

"HEY WONDER-GIRL!" Asuka yelled from behind before delivering a flying kick into Rei's side. That armor may be thick but I knew that had got to hurt. Quickly getting my footing back I watched the two of them go at it again.

Getting tired I decided to end this. I used my leg to sweep both of their legs from underneath them. I then grabbed my sash and tied them together. I took the sash and wrapped the remained around them locking them facing away from each other. "I believe I win." I said. Asuka struggled against the sash around her neck, pulling on it. Rei then leaned forward pulling Asuka up and strangling her. Knowing that this would continue until one of them probably passed out I sat down.

"Okay... This is not normal." I said looking at the both of them, they were way past their respective limits.

"I am tired of this." Rei finally said.

"Me too." Asuka added.

"Er... So, if I untie y'all we can go back down?" I asked semi wary of what might happen.

"I see no issue in that." Rei said. I untied them and prepared myself for anything. What happened next I could not believe. Asuka and Rei began to support each other walking down the stairs that led to our apartment. Taking a hint I got in front of them and opened the door. They both fell down on the couch and passed out.

"God damn." I said looking at the clock. It was nearly eleven. I took off my vest and took a shower and prepared for bed. Neither of them had woke up yet. I tried again and again but to no avail. Shrugging I just went to my room and passed out.

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The next morning both of them were in bed with me, they smelt like they had showered before laying down. I then heard a banging on the door. I slowly went into the bathroom and changed out of my pajama pants and into one of my real sets of pants. I walked to the door and opened it. Misato was still dressed in her relaxation clothes, suffice to say wasn't much other than a pair of shorts and a yellow top and was already shaken. "SHINJI, ANGEL, GOT TO GO, NOW!" She said. I noticed that Kaji was already dressed when he walked up behind her.

"I think what Misato is trying to say is, "Good Morning Shinji, we have to go, an angel has been detected."" He said throwing his arms around Misato from behind.

"Looks like y'all are a happy couple? Solved some of the issues then?" I asked ignoring the important issue at hand.

Misato smiled then said, "Hmm... What could that be behind you?" I slowly turned around after noticing Kaji had coughed and turned away. Looking behind me I saw a naked Rei heading to the bathroom.

"GOD DAMN IT" I yelled at the top of my lungs and slammed the door. I didn't need Misato seeing that. None of us would ever live that one down. "We will be right out." I called through the door. I went to wake Asuka and noticed she was not clothed either. Averting my eyes I tried to wake her.

"Asuka, wake up... WAKE UP!" I yelled at her.

"Breakfast done?" Was all she asked while still half asleep.

"No an angel is attacking and your in my bed naked." I said still averting my eyes. She woke up instantly at that.

"WHAT?" She asked looking down at herself then at me. She quickly left to her own room. With that I knocked on the bathroom door.

"Hey Rei, might want to hurry, an angel is about to attack." I said. The door then opened and Rei was fully dressed. "Rei, by any chance do you remember a conversation about decency we had earlier?" I asked.

"About how not being dressed may cause inadvertent issues?" She said back.

"Yeah that one..." I said surprised she remembered that part.

"Yes I do." She said back.

"Well, I would prefer it if you would not walk around the apartment nude." I tried to sound completely reasonable.

"I did not have clothing in your room. So I decided to retrieve some." She said.

"Yeah, and Misato and Kaji saw you walking out of my room naked." I said back.

She frowned then smiled. "I think that is for the best." She finally said. I was shocked but didn't want to press the issue.

"We have go to go, an angel has been detected." I finally said as Asuka emerged from her room fully dressed.


	19. Chapter 16: Thirty Days of Night&Boredom

Chapter 16: Thirty Days of Night

Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, and the title to this chapter is not a reference to the vampire movie of the same name. I had not seen or heard about that movie until after I wrote this. At the time, it sounded like a good idea. My story has nothing to do with vampires and the ilk. If you want Vampires, go look up Archdruid Sepheroth's page, as he has a NGE story with Vampires I think.

"So... how was the sex?" Misato asked still driving down the road haphazardly.

"How many times do I have to tell you... WE. DID. NOT. HAVE. SEX. You are the only person that would automatically assume we had sex! You are also driving so KEEP YOUR EYES AND MIND ON THE ROAD, NOT THE GUTTER!" I said angrily.

"That bad huh?" Misato said laughing.

"Shinji is correct, we have not had intercourse." Rei then added in.

"Then why were you coming out of his room naked?" Misato still trying to push the issue.

"Because we all sleep in the same room now." Rei answered.

"What?" Misato said shocked, I facepalmed.

"We all sleep in the same room." Rei said again.

"Asuka, please tell me that this is a joke." Misato said looking to her side.

"Rei is telling the truth." Asuka said under her breath, with her hand pinching the skin between her eyes.

"Well... Then it is time you heard the "talk."" Misato grinned wickedly, she was enjoying the suffering of everyone involved, "When a man and woman or in this case women love each other very much the start experimen~"

"Misato... WATCH THE ROAD!" Asuka yelled as Misato shut her eyes to try to think how to better explain it.

"Oh right. Well as I was saying, they start experimenting with their bodies." She said. I then decided to tuck and roll out of the car if she tried anything else, I undid my seat belt when Misato went to the door lock button on the panel of her door. I noticed that the locks did not unlock from the inside unless pressed from there. "Not going to be that easy to get out of this one." She said frowning at me in the mirror.

"Fuck." I said aloud.

"Exactly." Misato went back to giggling madly. "Anyway, they start to try to make each other happy in both a psychological and physical way. The physical way is called sex. Sex can be a hard term to define but I am just using it in any sense of pleasuring each other. Now understand, their can be many problems with sex, for example, pregnancy, but well get into that later. I'll let you let y'all experiment on your own but I will tell you that when you do have sex for the first time it can be confusing and painful for the female. Virgin girls have a hymen that ruptures when a man sticks his penis inside of her. It will hurt like hell most of the time. When a man does this he needs to wait for his partner because if he doesn't it might end very badly. When breaking a hymen the girl will bleed. This is natural and no cause for alarm. Next thing y'all will need to know about is birth control. You can buy condoms. Condoms are a type of birth control that the man puts over his penis before sex starts. It will keep him from ejaculating into a girl causing pregnancy. They also help keep any STDs from spreading. On the other end of the spectrum is birth control pills. A girl takes these to suppress her ability to get pregnant. They help but are not always 100%. If y'all do start taking them keep using a condom for the first month afterwards. It doesn't take effect immediately." She went on to list various other things including oral and her years in college. None of it we needed to hear.

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"I need some mind bleach." I said as we got out of the car. That was the longest I had ever had to endure anything that awkward, not to mention detailed.

"Me too." Asuka said getting out the passenger side. Rei however was still discussing the issue with Misato which was not helping matters much. Any questions should always be answered with a no. Especially when it is something like this. We had finally arrived at the NERV headquarters and were heading inside, a good twenty or thirty feet away from Misato and Rei who were still talking about it. I rushed into the male changing room, just to get away from them, and got on my plug suit, sure that Rei and Asuka would do the same.

"I am now very informed." Rei said proudly after she came back out of the changing room. Head held high, happy with herself.

"STOP... TALKING..." Asuka said coming out a few seconds after Rei, looking as if she had puked multiple times. Before either could say anything further (Thank god) the alarms started going off and we were rushed to our Evas.

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"So, y'all have a plan or what?" I asked over the com channel.

"Pilot Soryu and Pilot Ayanami will be sent out. You will be on standby." Dr. Ritsuko said over the channel.

"Why will Shinji not being joining us during this mission?" Rei asked annoyed.

"Shinji has proven to be childish and impulsive. We will not allow him out unless necessary." My father said.

"Understood." Rei said indifferently.

"Pilot Soryu do you understand as well?" He asked.

"I understand it, but that doesn't mean I like it." She said defiantly.

"Would you also like to be set on standby?" He said annoyed.

"Units 00 and 02 are powered up." Dr. Ritsuko's personal assistant said.

"Asuka, is something wrong? You are barely breaking 80%." Dr. Ritsuko asked over the com channel.

"Not that I know of." Asuka said in a sarcastic tone.

"We don't have time for this. Units LAUNCH." Misato yelled over the mic. With that I watched as Rei and Asuka disappeared from the base.

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"Is that thing our enemy?" Asuka asked looking at a floating coffin with a skull sticking out of it.

"Visual confirmed. That is the angel." Someone said from the base.

"Asuka, I believe that is the core." Rei said pointing out a protrusion in the chest area.

"No duh Wonder girl. We just have to figure out a way to brea~" Asuka was then interrupted by two of four beams connecting to her legs and destroying them. "SCHIESE" she yelled out in pain.

"Asuka are you okay?" Rei asked leaning down to the legless torso.

"Yeah, yeah, just kill this son of a bitch." She said clenching her teeth. Rei then began to try to get into close combat with it. Before she could even get within 300 meters she was shot down by the creature's arm like appendages. They had unfolded from it's body in less than a second and had hit her Eva almost instantaneously. Rei was knocked out cold from the blow to the Eva.

"My turn yet?" I asked still inside my Eva worried like hell.

"Pilot Ikari, we are going to try dropping an N2 mine on it." Dr. Ritsuko said smugly.

"That could kill them." I said angrily.

"They knew the risks." Gendo then said.

"T Minus 56 seconds." A voice said into the control room. I knew that without the ability to generate an AT-field that both Asuka and Rei were sitting ducks, not only that, I knew the Eva could not survive a hit from a N2 mine because unlike the angel, they didn't have passive AT-Fields.

"T Minus 42 seconds." The voice said again over the radio. The whole room then went silent.

"WHO TURNED ON UNIT 01?" A voice yelled out.

"Its the S2 engine. We can't shut it off." Dr. Ritsuko said. "PILOT IKARI, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?. PILOT IKARI ANSWER ME THIS INSTANT." She was livid. "Maya, are his coms on?" She asked.

"Unit 01 is going bezerk. We can't establish a connection with him. Other than his~ Dr. Ritsuko, you need to see this." She said worried.

"OH MY GOD." she gasped. "400% Past safe plug depth." With that everyone in the room went tense. The commander was the only person not worried.

"Launch the Eva." He ordered.

"Understood." Misato said worried about the children.

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"Where am I?" I said looking around into the void. I watched confused as a tunnel formed before me and a light went on past that. I tried to look back but all that greeted me was a wall of shadow. First I tried walking toward the dark, then noticed that the farther I walked toward it, the lighted tunnel always stayed the same distance in the other direction. "Great." I said sarcastically as I walked toward the light, having no other choice in the matter.

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"Shinji?" Asuka asked amazed as Unit 01 jumped out and began to utterly destroy the angel. "Shinji, are you there?" She asked a second time worried. Unit 01 had pushed the angel into the ground and started to rip off its arm like appendages on by one. There were eight in all but in less than a minute they were gone. "Shinji, please, talk to me." She once again called out. Unit 02 started dragging itself toward the battle between the two black and white giants. "SHINJI!" Asuka yelled again. Unit 01 was beating on the angel's face waiting for it to crack open. When it did Unit 01 seized the flesh and ripped it out. Then encircled it's hands across the core. Slowly tearing the core out Unit 01 made a savage howl of victory before throwing the core close to Unit 02 without noticing. Asuka seeing this as maybe a chance grabbed the core and opened her Eva's mouth. Swallowing the core whole her systems died. "Shinji, can you hear me, please." She said still not able to do anything.

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"Unit 02 has absorbed the S2 engine." Dr. Ritsuko said astonished while watching the carnage on screen. Unit 01 was still tearing the angel to bits, long after it had died. The blood was flooding the local streets. It then shut down.

"Unit 01 has shut down." Maya said keeping her eyes on the vitals of the other two children.

"Send retrieval teams to get the pilots." Misato said worried.

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I had finally reached the end of the tunnel. "So what is this?" I asked aloud, no one was around. Looking around this time the void was replaced with a vast flat plains like area. "Where the fuck am I?" I said once again to myself. "Fuck it." And with that I started walking.

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"Unit 02 has suffered major damage but we do have some replacement parts. Unit 00 is fine other than a few dinks." Ritsuko said in her report.

"What about the other one?" Gendo asked.

"It is perfectly fine. Other than the pilot." She said the last part under her breath.

"Ritsuko, we need him back. He isn't as replaceable as the others." He said collected.

"I understand that, but I do not have the equipment to bring him back, even if I did, there is no telling what he would come back as anyway. Chances are he would be highly contaminated or worse, come back as a full fledged angel." She said semi angrily at the prospect of bringing the little shit that almost killed her back.

"Do we still have the containment seal?" He asked.

"Yes, but it has never been tested." She said worried. The prospect that he might actually be willing to bring him back even if he was an angel.

"Commander, you cannot let your own personal feeling into this, I understand he is your son." She was trying to convince him.

"Dr. Ritsuko, I do not care if he is my son or not. He is the only pilot able to sync with Unit 01, which happens to be the only Unit that seems capable of truly stopping the angels." He said getting angry.

"What about Unit 02? Pilot Soryu has been able to kill an angel before." She said.

"I have reports saying that Pilot Soryu is no longer capable of piloting for now." He said.

"She is in the same state that Shinji was after the Ramiel incident." She said understanding his report instantly.

"Except this time there is a lack of the ability to just pop up a new one." She added.

"What about the First?" He asked.

"She has not woken up. Even if she does she has extensive damage to her skeletal structure. We would need at least 4 days to fix the damage." Dr. Ritsuko said.

"We are currently defenseless." The Deputy Commander then said.

"How long would it take to get the supplies to bring him back?" Gendo asked.

"Two weeks at least." She said.

"I want him out as soon as it is possible. That is an order, you are dismissed." Gendo said. She left.

"We should take SEELE up on their offer." The Deputy Commander said.

"One SEELE spy is enough." Gendo said back.

"Yes but that one does not have an Eva or the ability to pilot." The deputy commander replied.

"Fine." Gendo said before going back into the reports.

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Two days later.

"Asuka, I understand that you are hurting, but please calm down." Misato said to the girl in the straight jacket.  
"He is going to come back, he promised, then they will pay, they will all pay, Shinji will come back, he has too. He'll be back, you will all see." She said still giggling, she had already broke down twice, the doctor's had placed her on suicide watch the instant that she reacted to the news. She had also been locked in a cell and placed in a straight jacket to keep her from hurting those who entered.

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"I have read your report." Gendo said to the blond doctor, "is there any way to force her awake?" He asked.

"Not that would not cause severe damage." She said.

"Can we use a clone?" He asked.

"No. Getting one up to the developmental level is impossible. We have to save this one." She said obviously not enthused with the idea of having to do anything to help "her."

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"God damn it is hot out here." I said looking around. The area was flat. It had been about four hours, the sun was nearly setting. No animals were around. I was thirsty. Not to mention, I couldn't remember how I got here, or anything else for that matter. I could remember my name was Shinji Ikari, but that was about it. I could however tell the things around me. It was confusing so I stopped thinking about it. The sun had finally gone down, and with that the moon became brighter. "Oh great. A full moon." I said aloud again. "Guess that means werewolves too." I said sarcastically until I heard something coming from out of the bushes a few meters ahead of me. "OH SHIT, I WAS KIDDING." I said as a wolf that was black stepped out of the bushes.

"Hello." It said to me.

"Sup?" I asked it not understanding how.

"I am going to guess you want some answers." It said before sitting down.

"That would be great." I said managing a smile back at him.

"Well, I am your spirit animal, and I am here to lead you out of the spirit world." It said.

"Correct me if I am wrong but I don't think wolves live in areas like this, not to mention, uh, spirit world, not very original name." I said back to it.

"What part of spirit animal did you not understand?" He said back.

"The entirety of it." I quipped back.

"Look, you want help or not?" He asked.

"Please." I said back.

"Then follow me."

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A week and a half later.

"The First's operation was successful. Her bones are bonded back together, the mixture should actually reinforce her bones after it finish fusing." Dr. Ritsuko said proud of the chemical she had discovered, it worked equally well with the Eva. Which she should remember that later, but for now, focus.

"What about her wake?" He asked, not impressed, or if he was, very good at hiding it.

"We have signs of recovery, she is getting closer by the hour." Dr. Ritsuko was nearly beaming even through her hatred of Rei.

"What about the Second?" He asked.

"She is in a similar state to her mother before she passed. At this point it is not known that whether or not the third comes back that she can be saved, she is deteriorating by the day, I personally doubt that even the third can save her now." She said.

"Any Status updates on the third?" He asked, this time showing slight concern, without the third his plans were ruined.

"So far the technology we have received has identified him-ish. A few more days and we should receive the last bit to actually try to bring him back." She said worried. "Do you have a plan once we wake him? He might not be the same, he could come out totally different and more importantly very VERY angry like enough to attempt to kill me. This is Theoretical technology we are talking about here."

"A plan has been made, yes. We however must wait until we see what happens." Gendo lied.

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"Does night ever end here?" I asked the wolf.

"That is a very ambiguous question. The spirit world is seen different by every creature in it. While you and I may see the night sky, someone on a different plane of the spirit world may be seeing a frozen tundra with nothing but sun." He answered.

"So, basically we are all here, just on different but intersected planes?" I asked him.

"Wow... How did you figure that one but could not figure out where you were?" He asked.

"It is not like I understand this realm, but I am starting to piece it together, I do however understand that a million souls may be here now, but they could be cut off from us, just like how some people believe that the spirit world and the physical intersect." I said proudly.

"Shinji... they do intersect, or else you wouldn't be here." He said.

"Uh huh, then what is with the time scale here?" I asked.

"Don't know." He answered.

"Look, I enjoy the company, but for some reason I have a feeling that I need to get back to where I came from." I said to him.

"Yeah, we must wait a while though, the reason you are still here is because you cannot pass over to the realm of death, but cannot return to life yet. We have to wait until your body is fully prepared." He said.

"I am going to just say that even though I understand that, I don't exactly enjoy the prospect of it. There is something that I need to get back to immediately." I said still not remembering anything.

"Don't you love amnesia?" He asked.

"Not really, it is so far a pain." I said back.

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2 Weeks have passed since Shinji was absorbed into the Eva.

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"Rei. Do you understand?" Misato asked hoping for a different result than Asuka.

"I understand perfectly. I will however wait for him to get back." She said.

"What is with you and Asuka repeating that? I miss him yes, I might actually have to give him a funeral. But I do not understand why y'all believe that he is coming back. We don't even know if the procedure is going to work." Misato said.

"Shinji made us a promise. May I see Asuka?" Rei then said.

"Asuka is a little... problematic." Misato said after looking for the right word.

"I need to see Asuka." Rei then said firmly.

"I'll see what I can do."

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"Dr. Ritsuko, you said that the project was going well?" Gendo asked.

"Yes, it is going along scarily well. We expected roadblocks at every turn. His body is actually forming. We just have to wait for it to finish. I do not know how he will take his return though. There have been minor mutations though." She said.

"Minor mutations? Explain." Gendo then said.

"Well, his skin has turned a slight shade of white, he also has had slight differences in his skeletal structure, good news though, he could pass off as maybe Caucasian instead of albino looking at the skeletal structure and skin type will lean heavily on the white side. His DNA is uniting with some angel parts. Projections show that his DNA will actually be more like Rei then any other human on Earth if he comes back." She said.

"What is the risk of contamination?" Gendo asked.

"Honestly, he has already been contaminated, however unlike previous cases, he is fusing with it naturally, instead of artificially. He will technically be the first natural-ish hybrid. Rei was made in a lab out of tissue of both species, he is GROWING the tissue himself. Another weird thing about it is the fact that it is not a forced mutation. He might not be under the control of any angel when he comes out." She said.

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Another week passes. 21 days total.

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"Asuka, you have a visitor." Misato said to the girl who now pretty much just stayed hugging her legs to her, not acknowledging the world around her.

"You might as well come in now." Misato said into the hall. Rei then walked into the small cell.

"Asuka?" She asked looking at the girl.

"She has been that way for almost two weeks now." Misato said shaking her head and starring downwards, "The doctors are not fully sure if this can ever be fixed."

"Thank you for bringing me to see her. I would like to see the tank that they are fixing Shinji in." Rei then said.

"Shinji?" Asuka perked up upon hearing his name. "Where is Shinji?" She asked to no one in particular.

"Shinji is coming back Asuka, just wait a while longer." Rei said walking over to the broken girl and hugged her. For the first time in weeks Asuka regarded the fact that someone was touching her.

"You said Shinji is coming back?" Asuka asked.

"Yes, a little while longer." Rei said. Something in Asuka went back into gear.

"Wonder girl?" She said looking around. "Went a little crazy there for a bit didn't I?" Asuka said laughing. Quickly changing into her yellow sundress she demanded to be allowed access to the pod where Shinji was.

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"Is that the sun?" I asked looking to where the sky was starting to become orange and pink.

"I believe so, which means you are almost ready to return to life." The wolf said.

"Bitchin." I said. "Wait, how long have we been walking?" I asked him.

"Time has a very limited meaning here." He said.

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9 days later.

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"A few more hours and he will be complete." Dr. Ritsuko said to the crowd gathering outside her office, from technicians, engineers, to the office staff, these people wanted to see him again. He had almost become a cult figure. It didn't help that he was probably the person most responsible for keeping the the second apocalypse from happening. When the outside world heard that he was out of commission people began to gather from all around to Tokyo 3. It was almost so bad that you needed to be able to speak three of four languages to even talk to people on the street.

"I need everyone to leave. I am sure that when the process is done that you will be able to see him." She said.

"Dr. Ritsuko, why does he look so different?" Rei asked worried. He was a shade of ashen pale, mixed with a bit of charcoal. Almost like when he covered him body in ash to fight.

"His DNA has fused with the angel DNA from the Eva." She said.

"So what does that make him, some kind of mix between human and angel?" Asuka asked. She had gained back most of herself. She still however cried at night when they were at home, especially when it came time to sleep in the bed.

"His DNA will be similar to Rei's." Dr. Ritsuko said.

"Will he still be himself?" Rei asked, not caring about the prospect of the physical change.

"Er... We will not know until we fully bring him back." Dr. Ritsuko said.

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"So this is the end of our journey." I said to the wolf.

"It seems so." He said. We were both looking through a black tunnel that led back into the void. This time the shadow wall was gone.

"Well, my time here has been informational." I said snarking to the wolf.

"I am sure it has." He said sarcastically.

"Should we say goodbyes? Kinda pointless if you are my spirit animal and are always following me." I said to him.

"Probably not necessary. You might actually be able to see me at times now, so that makes this even more useless." He said.

"Then let's go." I said charging through the tunnel.

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"HERE'S SHINJI!" I yelled as I burst out of the glass tube filled with LCL. My muscles felt different, actually come to think of it, everything felt different. Looking at my body I noticed some significant changes and was somehow in a modified plug suit . "Er... This is new." I said. I then looked around. No one was in the room around me, but I was in the room for testing sync with Evas. I looked up to the window up top. "SUP?" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

"Are you Shinji Ikari?" A voice I instantly recognized as my father asked.

"Let me ask you this, Are you still an asshole bent on godhood?" I asked back up.

"SHINJI!" I heard Asuka yell from the small door on the ground floor. I looked toward it and saw a sight that made my heart skip a few pulses. Rei and Asuka were both there. I slowly walked over to them before being shot at.

"You will stay were you are." A voice over the coms said.

"Give me one good reason." I said.

"Because, we are not sure whether you are the real Shinji or not." The voice said again.

"Okay, how about this, if I find out that it was Dr. Ritsuko who is put me back together I promise not to kill her." (for now) I said.

"That seems very unlike the Shinji we know." I saw where the sniper was.

"Look, right now, think about this, A. I don't exactly know how long I have been out, B. I am in a new body. C. The only thing I want to do right now is grab something to eat and a coffee. I am honestly starved." I said.

"One question. What is the most listened to band on Shinji's MP3 player?" I immediately started laughing.

"SERIOUSLY? Y'ALL~ Fuck it." I said calming down. "Nine Inch Nails. Song is The Day the World Went Away, quiet version. The next most listened too are probably the Primordia soundtrack album and Halo ODST soundtrack." I said.

"Correct." I heard a voice from the room say.

"Can I move now? I kinda need to take a piss." I asked.

"Definitely Shinji." Misato's voice came from the room.

"Yes. Report to the command room in 5 minutes." My father said.

"Whatever." I said walking over to the doors. "Miss me?" I asked when I got to them.

"Shinji, I swear to whatever god you believe in that if you ever do that again, I will personally drag you out of hell so that I can torture you myself." Asuka said grabbing a hold of me and squeezing.

"You know, you sure do swear to him a bunch." Rei however stayed back. "Something wrong Rei?" I asked looking at her.

"You do not feel the same as Shinji." She said looking back at me.

"That might have something to do with this new body. It is feels kinda weird, other than the need to take a piss." I said.

"You are like me now." Rei said under her breath.

"Not exactly a bad thing in all honesty, I mean, now you don't have to feel so alone." I said to her. She didn't look up. I walked over to her and grabbed her arm and set it to my wrist.

"Remember this?" I asked.

"Yes." She said.

"I am Shinji Ikari, and no matter what, I will always love y'all." I said to her. She felt no change in pulse.

"Shinji..." Was all she could manage before I kissed her forehead.

"Uh, sorry to cut this short, but I need a few things before I go anywhere near that command room." I said then started sprinting to the bathroom. It began to feel as though I hadn't peed in weeks. After that I found the closest office area and got me a cup of coffee. I then returned to where I had left them.

"Much better." I said looking them both in the eyes. Before I knew what was happening I was pinned to a wall and Asuka sunk her tongue between my lips, then switched out with Rei.

"Don't you ever do anything like that again." Asuka said to me. Rei seemed to linger pinning me against the wall, starring into my eyes.

"Okay...?" I said trying my hardest to control some of the parts of my body that acted on their own.

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"So... this is my replacement?" I said looking up at Kaworu.

"I am intended to be your help now." He said with a smirk.

"Kaworu will be replacing one of you. Seeing as no country is allowed more than three Evas to be active at a time, one of the Evas will have to stay on standby." My father said.

"How about I stay on standby?" He said looking up at my father,

"Truth is, I have no experience fighting angels, it seems like a better idea to me." Rei was not happy with the appearance of the other built hybrid.

"You look so much different then what I was told you looked like." He said starring down at me. Taking the hint I shot back up to him.

"Yeah, I just got a extreme makeover if you want to call it that."

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"So, I hear that you will now be moving into the apartment beside ours." I said to him.

"Yep." Was all he said back. "Though I might need your assistance with something." He said after that. "I have no idea how to cook, and I have heard that you can teach pretty well." He said laughing.

"No problem." I said back. The "adults" were conversing and such about the upcoming changes, along with announcing my return to the public, which I thought was silly, I barely interacted with the public when I could avoid it, hell the only time I actually had too interact was when a TV reporter got through the school gates and started questioning me, which suffice to say didn't go to well when Asuka saw them.

End Chapter 16

A/N: In anime, I honestly have trouble distinguishing different nationality people therefor had to go with one I understand, which I hope y'all understand.


	20. Interjection: Fourth Break

Intermission: 4th Break

Shinji intently stares at the prog knife in his Eva's hands before swallowing the shot of whiskey he packed in a waterproof bag. Slowly he raises the knife and places it right beside his Eva's thumb.

"OH, I have all my fingers,

the knife goes chop, chop, chop,

if I miss the spaces in between

my fingers will come off.

And if I hit my fingers,

the blood will soon come out.

But all the same I play this game

cause that what it's all about.

You can not use a pencil,

you can not use a pen,

the only way is with a knife

when danger is your friend.

I have all my fingers,

the knife goes chop, chop, chop,

if I miss the spaces in between

my fingers will come off.

Some may call it stupid,

some may call it dumb,

but all the same I play this game

because it's so damn fun.

oh chop,chop,chop,chop chop, chop, chop

I'm picking up the speed,

and if i hit my fingers

then my hand will start to bleed"

Shinji then takes out a pair of over sized shutter-shades, and says to the screen "OH YEAH! I am the cream of the crop! And the Cream will rise to the top. TONIGHT!"

"Hey Asuka, Its your turn." Shinji takes off the glasses, and throws them. All they do is float around the LCL.

"Ain't no way you will get me to do that." Asuka said looking at outfit that was prepared for her. It would be a major shot to her pride if she was made to wear that, even if the only people who would see would be Rei and Shinji.

"Would you prefer the whole world know that you were squelching out on a bet that you orchestrated?" Rei asked, preparing to let loose the recording of Asuka making the bet.

"NO! I'LL DO IT!" Asuka yelled then quickly changed into the clown costume, then made her Eva juggle prog knives at increasing speed. "Hello boys and girls, I AM THE AMAZING ASUKA-O HERE TO AMAZE WITH AMAZING SKILLS IN JUGGLING AND OTHER VARIOUS AMAZING TRICKS!" She yelled over her loud speakers.

Once she was done she let a breath of relief out of her system, much happier now that she wasn't throwing around knives.

"Your turn Ayanami." Asuka said with a feral grin, threatening to take off part of her face.

With great amounts of concentration, Rei got her Eva to balance on its head. She then began to lift herself up so that she was on her hands before she fully started to walk with them. "Done." She said then flipped her Eva back over.

"Not fair." Asuka said, she had done this to embarrass the other pilots, and the only others who would see it were the other pilots.


	21. Chapter 17: Lessons

Chapter 17: Lessons

Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or media related to it. I do however own a few dvds with the series on them, as that is how I was introduced to the series.

"Okay, this time a little more slowly." I said to the ashen haired boy in front of me.

"I want you to try out your AT-field." He said again. It had been a few weeks since he had moved into the apartment complex. Asuka seemed indifferent to him while Rei was rather... hostile... to say the least. I had to convince her to even allow me to go anywhere near him without her accompanying me. She was difficult to convince, not to mention, when Asuka talked to Rei about it, she turned to Rei's side. They didn't trust the other hybrid, but the never brought up the fact that I was a hybrid now. It was a topic no one could broach very easily except for Kaworu, and he was sure I had an AT-field even if I could not actively feel it.

"Okay, and how would I be able to test out this AT-field? I am no where near my Eva." I said looking back at him. With that he lifted his arm up and forged a bolt of lightning.

"Like that." He said smirking.

"Yeah, now how do I do that?" I asked somewhat amazed at his ability.

"Think of it as an extension of your body, all you have to do is feel it, and it will happen." He said. I sat there for many minutes trying to copy him, not a single attempt working.

"Yeah, I don't think I have an AT-Field." I said once again.

"How do you use your AT-Field on the Eva?" He asked.

"Honestly, I don't, I just do whatever comes to mind at the time." I said.

"Hmm... I need to think then. I will see you tomorrow, by the way, I am starting school with you and the females tomorrow." He said looking at me.

"Er... Watch out for Rei." I said wanting to avoid anything happening.

"She is not a problem. She cannot control her AT-Field outside her body." He said.

"She has one too?" I asked surprised.

"All angels have one, but other than me currently, none of the hybrids know how to use theirs outside their body." He said as we left the roof.

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"So. What were y'all doing up there?" Asuka asked.

"I felt a spike in energy." Rei said, pinpointing what happened almost immediately. "Shinji, please understand, I would prefer that you stayed away from Kaworu. He may have the ability to use his AT-field, but I do not believe that he would refrain from using it on you." Rei said right after that.

"AT-Field?" Asuka asked confused.

"Kaworu told me that all hybrids have AT-Fields. Me and Rei just don't know how to use ours." I said trying to explain to Asuka.

"So what? You have superpowers but cannot use them?" She said laughing at something so absurd.

"And what did you and Rei do while I was up there?" I asked Asuka trying to change the subject.

"Picking out a house outside of Japan." She said flatly.

"We have found a rather nice one." Rei added in, "but it will need a new outer paint color." She wasn't to enthused with the idea of a yellow house apparently.

"Y'all were looking at houses?" I asked astonished.

"Yeah, you promised that we would move out of here when this was all over." Asuka said.

"Yeah but I didn't think that was happening soon." I said.

"Either way, I believe it is good to have a set goal." Rei said.

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That night dinner consisted of a fettuccine, Asuka wanted to have white wine with it to complete the picture but I reminded her that we might be a little young to be drinking.

"Bullshit, you have your fireball whiskey stored somewhere." Was her response.

"That may be, but how often do you see me drinking it?" I asked.

"Whenever you are nervous." She said back.

"I would also like to partake in the wine." Rei said.

"Fine." I said as I headed over to Misato and asked her nicely for a bottle. She had developed a habit of keeping it stocked with Kaji being over every night or so.

"Don't get too drunk, tonight is a school night." She said smiling and handing the bottle over.

"It is not for me, it's for Asuka and Rei." I said back, thanking her.

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They both got hammered. It was funny other than the uh... looseness... of Asuka. Rei was seemingly carefree and happy.

Asuka was a rather lively drunk, not to mention angry. "I am not drunk." She said still swaying back and forth.

"Yeah... I think you are." I said as I tried to take the second wine bottle away. The first was empty anyway, but Asuka seemed to have found another.

"Rei. Am I drunk?" She asked the blue haired girl.

"I cannot tell. I don't think I can see straight enough to make a decision. I do however enjoy this alcohol, it makes me feel rather euphoric." She said smiling.

"That's it. No more alcohol tonight, we have school tomorrow." I raised my voice, clearly tired of this, I didn't want to wake the neighbors.

"Fuck off Shinji." Asuka said with a frown before pouring another glass. I also wondered where she got the wine glasses from in the first place but I figured Misato.

"Well, I am going outside for a few." I said in an unhappy tone as I closed the door. I swore I heard Asuka yell "Good." as I walked out. I went up to the roof and was surprised with what I saw.

"Hello Shinji." Kaworu said looking at me.

"Sup Kaworu." I said watching the other hybrid. He was sitting down, meditating I think. "What are you doing up here?" I asked.

"Not exactly easy to sleep with all that noise down there." He said much to my embarrassment.

"Sorry about that, they are a handful." I apologized for their actions, mostly Asuka's.

"It is not your fault." He said brushing it off.

"Would you like to try to practice your AT-Field?" He asked.

"Sure, if I even have one." I said. We went through the motions once again, the only difference is this time instead of a lightning bolt he created a much more stable force. After many attempts he began to give out instructions as if he were a Zen master.

"You have to feel it, then visualize what you want it to do." He said. Putting my mind to ease I tried to feel everything around me. I could feel the air against my skin along with the ground beneath my feet.

"That might be easier said then done." I said looking back at him.

"Let me guess, you don't believe you can feel it." He said smirking.

"Bingo." I said.

"Put your mind at peace as if you were meditating, then see if it works." He said. I sat down and began to lose focus on everything. After a few minutes I began to feel a force that was different then what was usually there, it felt like a ever spiraling force going around me. Standing up I could almost see it, flames spiraling around the ground.

"Er... Kaworu, this is completely safe right?" I asked looking at the ground.

"I believe you can now feel your field, and it is completely safe as long as you have control over it." He said. With that he directed me through the motions one more time, he made a lightning bolt.

"I can do this." I said visualizing a bolt in my hand. It didn't work. "Gah, what the fuck can possibly be wrong?" I asked aloud.

"I do not know." He replied. I had resigned myself back to ground a picked up a rock. Visualizing the rock floating, it began to do so.

"Er I think I figured it out." I said quickly drawing his attention.

"I believe you have to have a catalyst." He said thinking about it.

"Try to do something else." He said. I stood up and tried to visualizing flames in my hand. A few seconds later my hand caught fire. It didn't burn me, but anything I touched began to light. "I think you are starting to understand now." He said smiling. "Try something else." He said while turning the bolt of lightning into a orb of light, then into a semisolid sphere, then back again. I began to focus on the fire. A few seconds later I had a bolt of energy like he had. "Hmm... good... Took me weeks to figure out how to change it." He said.

We repeated the process for an hour. I figured out I could do a lot with the AT-field but I had to have a catalyst to control. He had told me that eventually I may be able to spontaneously do it like him, but he didn't know for sure.

"Well, I think I need to go check up on them." I said to him at last, both of us beat from practicing the AT-fields. I found I could do somethings he could not, for example use my AT-field to propel objects, working similar to a a magnetic driver.

"I think I am going to go pass out." He said back. Over the past few weeks, I had honestly enjoyed Kaworu's company. He was a good friend.

"Hey Kaworu, I had a question." I said before he got up.

"That would be?" He asked.

"What was your life like before you came here?" I asked.

"Hmm... that is difficult to explain. A life can constitute many things. My life was nothing but going from place to place for SEELE, which kind of sucked. I was never allowed to be around the human populace in general, so I had no friends, no family, or anything like that. I guess you could call it depressing. Though I am happy to be here now." He said finished.

"You know, I am still going to work against the idea of the Third Impact, right?" I asked him.

"I believe that it is inevitable, both SEELE and NERV are trying to rush it." He said looking down.

"Yeah, but one thing they didn't expect was me." I said looking up.

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Heading back inside, I walked to my room when the rest of the apartment seemed empty. I saw a horrible sight. Asuka had found ANOTHER bottle of wine and had passed out with it still in her arms, half full. Rei was right beside her, wrapping her arms around Asuka. It would not have been bad had there not been a bottle of wine sitting squarely in Asuka's arms. Getting sick of the sight I dislodged the bottle from her and poured it down the sink. "This is not happening again." I said firmly. I then saw Pila for the first time in days. I then remembered that raccoons were nocturnal animals. "Sup Pila." I said petting the small raccoon. She had gotten up onto the counter and was searching for something. "Looking for something?" I asked before noticing that her water bowl was empty. Retrieving it I washed it and filled it back up, much to her delight. The began to wash her food and then ate it. Happy for a time.

Heading back to the bedroom I decided I really didn't want to be near them tonight. It wasn't so much that I felt like that what they had done was wrong, but it felt like if they woke up with me in bed, they would see it as okay to do. Getting a spare comforter out of the closet I laid down on the couch and quickly fell asleep.

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I woke up when I noticed something warm to my side. Waking up enough to open my eyes I saw that it was only 2 on the digital clock above the TV. I had no idea where the clock came from, seeing as it wasn't here when I had moved in, but I figured that Asuka and Rei had changed the place little to suit their liking.

Looking down I saw Asuka had found me on the couch, her eyes open, though it looked as if she had been crying. "Shinji." She said looking a straight at me, knowing I was awake. "Why didn't you want to sleep with us tonight?" I could still smell the alcohol. Without answering I took her hand and led her back to the bedroom where I laid down, her following suit. Rei was still fast asleep. Asuka then laid her head on my shoulder and fell back to sleep. I had a feeling that I was giving up, but I didn't care as long as she was happy.

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The next morning I was the first to rise, Rei shortly after me. She started the coffee and got out the stuff for breakfast, then went to the bathroom after I had come out. I went to the kitchen and started preparing breakfast and made me a glass of coffee. Somehow or another Asuka had woken up. She had apparently snuck into the kitchen without making a sound and wrapped her arms around me from behind. "Shinji." She said hugging me. She then released and got her a glass of orange juice, she was not a fan of coffee.

"Breakfast will be done in a few minutes." I said cooking the eggs last because of their inability to stay warm for long. I had already made lunch for us today. Rice for me, a salad for Rei, and some chicken for Asuka. I sat out the boxes which contained our lunches and heated both mine and Asuka's. I then set the table for us when Rei had exchanged the restroom with Asuka, how came out a minute later.

After breakfast I noticed Asuka had lifted her hand to her head multiple times. "Hey, Shinji, do we have any aspirin?" She asked finally.

"No." I said bluntly.

"God this headache is killing me." She started complaining, seeking a sympathy card.

"Hmm... I wonder why that is?" I asked with a sarcastic tone. She stood up and left the room. Rei had just watched, not saying a word. Asuka did eventually come out of her room fully dressed and grabbed her lunchbox and left. Not a word escaped her mouth. Rei bid me a quick goodbye and followed Asuka. Knowing that somehow I would pay for this later I cleaned up before grabbing my lunch and leaving.

I hadn't made it out the door when I ran into Kaworu. "Hello Shinji." He said with a smirk.

"Sup." I said back, then remembered that he would be joining the class today.

"You know where the school is?" I asked him.

"That's why I was heading over here, I have no idea, would you mind showing me?" He asked.

"No problem." I replied.

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We talked on our way to school, mostly on what he was to expect and do. For being like Rei he was much more human like. He didn't just suppress any sort of emotion, but didn't just go balls to the wall with them either. From what I had heard his childhood kinda sucked, but he made up for it with the fact that he actually tried to have a better one.

Once we had finally arrived to school he had to go through all the registry bull crap. After that, we headed to the class room. As Hikari walked in she immediately noticed Kaworu to introduce herself, she was the class rep after all. "Hello, my name is Hikari. I am the class rep, if you need anything don't hesitate to ask." She said with a smile.

"My name is Kaworu, it is a pleasure to meet you Miss Hikari." Kaworu said. I watched as Hikari started to get nervous. I then began to think that she seemed rather indecisive about men. 'oh well' I thought watching Kaworu and Hikari interact. It was beginning to look cute as Kaworu began asking millions of questions and watching Hikari drop what she was doing to help him.

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The school had already gotten through the new appearance. I had to use the excuse that I was severely injured and this new skin and structure was from the extensive rebuild which seemingly went without a hitch. I noticed that Hikari had placed Kaworu right beside her desk. Once I was finally seated I noticed two empty chairs. Asuka and Rei still hadn't shown up.

"Mr. Ikari, where are Ms. Soryu and Ms. Ayanami?" The teacher asked.

"Er... No idea." I said wondering that myself. He finally relented and allowed me to go out into the hall to call them. I tried to get Asuka first but I was bitch buttoned immediately each time. Getting aggravated I called Rei. It took two calls for her to pick up.

"Hello Rei." I said as calmly as I could.

"Hello Shinji." She said back in a hushed tone.

"Hey Rei, I hope you don't mind me asking, but where are you and Asuka?" I asked still trying to keep calm.

"Asuka has asked me to not give you that information in case you did call." She said, I heard Asuka in the background.

"Is that him?" She asked Rei. Rei muffled her phone to the best of her ability but I still heard a "yes." being said. "Tell him to kiss my ass." Asuka told Rei before I heard a door shut.

"Shinji?" she asked wondering if I was still on the line.

"Yes Rei?" I asked back.

"I was told to inform you to "Kiss Asuka's ass."" Rei said.

"Look Rei, where are y'all?" I asked again getting aggravated.

"I am not allowed to answer that." She said once again. I then heard someone male shushing Rei and then a THX intro. I knew exactly where they had disappeared to, they had skipped to go to the movie theater.

"Rei, I have got to go now." I said hanging up the phone. I was going to go drag them out of the movie theater, but first came up with a plan. I texted Kaworu knowing his phone was on vibrate, then headed outside.

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It was a thirty minute walk to the theater and I was growing more pissed by the second. If they were going to go do something like this they should at least let me know so I wouldn't worry, then again, that was a little hypocritical coming from my mouth, but I didn't care right now. Finding the movie theater I looked at all the movies playing and mentally began to figure out which of the three they might have gone to. I didn't have to think long as I watch Asuka get pulled out by a large man in a theater uniform slowly followed by Rei.

"Young lady, I don't care who you are, you cannot call anyone that in a public place." He said angrily before getting kicked in the shin by an angry Asuka. I watch as he pulled up his hand and was about to strike Asuka before Rei quickly jabbed him in the back.

"I am sorry." She said as he fell to the floor. I immediately hid from their sight. Watching them walk out of the theater I quickly followed, still not being seen. I followed them into a small store that was selling various items before approaching them.

"I am not going even begin to describe how pissed I am right now." I said surprising both of them.

"S-Shinji?" Asuka stuttered turning around. "How did you find us?" Asuka asked shocked, she had listened to everything Rei had said over the phone.

"Doesn't matter, what does matter however is that we need to head to school." I said rather bluntly.

"Sorry, but no thanks." Asuka said running a hand through her hair, pushing it over her shoulder.

"Rei, what about you?" I asked her.

"I cannot leave Asuka by herself." Rei said rather flatly.

"Thank you Rei." Asuka said.

"Okay, well that doesn't give me much more than this option." I said as I hit the number 1 button on my speed dial.

Less than a second later Misato picked up. "Shinji, WHERE ARE YOU? THE SCHOOL HAS ALREADY CALLED! I WAS WORRIED, WHERE ARE ASUKA AND REI?" She said freaking out over the phone.

"I found them. No need to worry, we are all~" Asuka snatched the phone from my hand and took it off speaker.

"Sorry Misato, but this is for your own good." She then hit the end call button and broke the phone, then handed it back.

"What the fuck did you do that for?" She asked angrily to me.

"Um... I thought it would be rather obvious." I said back.

"Yeah well, we are not going to school today." Asuka growled.

"Asuka, I think the plan to make Shinji worry will fail if he has already found us." Rei said.

"Rei, we need to talk about how to keep you from blabbing stuff like that out." Asuka then groaned.

"Let me get this straight, y'all skipped school to get a rise out of me?" I asked.

"That was the original plan, yes." Rei confirmed. Asuka just started banging her head against a shelf.

"Yeah, and it would have gone perfect except that super wife decided that it would be okay to pick up her phone." Asuka said.

"It is a wife's duty to reassure her husband that she is okay." Rei said frowning.

"Rei, how many times do I have to tell you, we are not married to him." Asuka said.

"I remember many instances." Rei said.

Getting tired of the arguing I decided to interrupt. "Sorry to interrupt but y'all might want to make a plan, like now." I said, remembering where we were supposed to be.

"Don't worry, I already thought of that. I got a doctor to sign this note saying that I was feeling ill and went to see her." Asuka said pulling a note from her purse.

"What about you?" I asked to Rei.

"Asuka's note has my explanation as well. I went with her. While we were there we picked up a prescription of birth contr~" Asuka quickly covered Rei's mouth and hissed something into her ear.

"I am not allowed to inform you what we did at the doctor's office." She then said. Pretty sure I already knew what they did there I tried my hardest to skip the subject.

"Okay, well now I am the only one in trouble." I said sighing.

"Serves you right for ruining my plans." Asuka snorted.

"Asuka, I thought you already had a contingency plan for that?" Rei asked her.

"Rei, can't you just let me enjoy his pain for one second?" She asked back, then continued, "Well, Baka, if you want to know, I guessed this might happen so I might just happen to have a way to keep you out of trouble as well." She said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Not telling you, least not till I hear you apologize for last night." Asuka said.

"I refuse, that was not my fault." I said then walked out.

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Asuka and Rei did not follow me. I knew exactly what Asuka was doing, she was trying to guilt trip me, or just gain my approval. She wanted me to apologize for her getting drunk. I refused to do it. I slowly made my way back to the school. Once there I checked in with the principle and told him I had found the both of them, they had gone to see the doctor due to Asuka being ill. I then was told I would be suspended for the rest of the week, which I was fine with, knowing that Asuka and Rei would have to show up. Misato was called and I lied about Asuka and Rei again. Misato was glad it was her day off when she came to pick me up.

"What the hell were you thinking?" She asked again.

"Look, I was worried when I called and Rei said they were at the doctor's." I said back.

"Well, was it because they drank last night?" She asked hitting an already sore subject.

"I never found out." I said back.

"Well, seeing as you are suspended for walking off school property what do you expect your punishment to be?" She asked.

"Well, there isn't much you can take away from me. I mean, I barely watch TV, not to mention do anything else." I said back.

"Okay then, I am grounding you from using the training pods at NERV." She said happily.

"I still don't have much to complain about in that case, Asuka and Rei are the only ones who love to use them." I said, instantly regretting the fact she took her eyes off the road and stared straight into my eyes with a look of pure maliciousness.

"Shinji, I would shut up if I were you, I can always let a rumor slip into the staff that you are sleeping with both Asuka and Rei." She said knowing that would press my buttons.

"You wouldn't." I said in disbelief.

"Try me." was all I got back.

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The rest of the ride home was in complete silence. When we did finally arrive I followed Misato back up the stairs. I was half tempted to say something until Kaji walked out smiling at Misato. "That was fast." He said looking at me, then continued, "I smell Asuka's handiwork in this."

"Oh, what was your first clue?" I asked.

"Oh just the fact that Asuka seems to do this whenever she is angry." He said nonchalantly.

"I wonder how you screwed up?" he then asked.

"She was the one who started drinking, not me." I said lowly.

"Wow... I would think she would try something other than that first." He said laughing. "Well, look at it this way, if this has failed, she'll move on to her next plan." He said. I then headed to my apartment.

After I had made me something to eat because I had missed lunch and my food was still sitting at the school, I headed upstairs. Picking up several rocks on the way up I decided to use my spare time. I began to take each rock and fire them at different things for fun. I felled a few dead trees with a single shot. Getting bored for the moment I headed back downstairs.

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It surprised me when a knock came to my door. Opening it up I saw Kaworu. "Sup man." I said looking at him. He was rather unnerved.

"Hey Shinji. I need some advice." He said.

"About what?" I asked.

"Hikari has asked me if I would like to take her out sometime. I agreed and we now have a date at the end of the week." He said.

"Oh... Um... that... hmm... What do you need to know?" I asked.

"I have a basic understanding of a date. I do not know however how I should present myself." He said.

"Well, where are you going?" I asked.

"We are going to go see a movie then have dinner." He said.

"I would say go semi casual then." I said back.

"That means?" He asked.

"Button up shirt and nice pants, along with shoes other than sneakers." I said hoping he got the jist.

"Ah, thank you. I also noticed that you have been practicing your AT-Field." He said noting the fallen trees.

"Er.. Yeah, was blowing off some steam." I said back.

"Would you like to talk about it?" He asked inquisitively.

"No thanks, I think I got this one." I said smiling back. With that he headed over to his apartment and headed inside. I did the same, still waiting for a certain pair of two girls to show up.

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I had already made dinner and put it away hours ago. It was already late, very late, and I was getting pissed. Looking back at the clock it was nearing midnight. I would have called Rei but my phone was in multiple pieces in some store a time away. I at some point fell asleep on the couch.

"SHINJI, (hiccup) WERE HOME." Asuka screamed into the apartment before noticing me sleeping on the couch. "Aw, isn't that so cute?" She said to Rei.

Rei slowly walked in not able to fully walk straight.

"He is very... nice." She said.

Asuka plopped down on the couch near my feet. "Shinji, wake up." She said poking me.

"Asuka?" I asked groggily.

"Yeah, were home now." She said in her sweetest tone before leaning me up and leading me into the bedroom. I could smell the alcohol on her breath, and stopped.

"Where have y'all been?" I asked waking up.

"We have been many places." Rei said slightly slurring her speech.

"Rei, please tell me you did not drink." I said to her.

"Does it displease you?" She asked.

"Very much so." I said holding my head down.

"I will then abstain from alcohol from now on." She said.

"Thank you." I said to her.

"Hold up Wonder-girl. You have every right to drink." Asuka started in, aggravated at the topic. "Shinji, you have no right to tell Rei what she can and cannot do." Asuka slurred badly.

"Asuka. I do not like you doing this." I said in a flat tone.

"Doing what?" She asked sarcastically.

"Asuka, I demand you stop drinking." Rei said.

"Oh, really now?" Asuka said back.

"It upsets Shinji." Rei said.

"Oh, so now you're defending him." Asuka said, "well that's just great. Two against one."

"One sec." I said and walked outside, I returned a minute later, Misato in tow. "Misato, sorry to wake you, please explain." I said locking the door behind her.

"So Asuka, I heard you wanted to be like me." Misato began. With that I pulled Rei into the room we shared and got ready for bed. Rei did the same. Rei didn't smell as much like alcohol and we started talking. She explained that they had stole some liquor and had stayed in a park drinking until they decided it was late enough to come home. I thanked her and we fell asleep.

Asuka walked in visibly disturbed. "Shinji, I am sorry." She said as she walked into the room. Rei was already asleep and I was woken by Asuka entering the room.

"I am going to guess Misato set you straight then?" I asked.

"Shinji, I love you, I don't want to end up like her in college." Asuka said as she got ready for bed, which suffice to say, was stepping into the slightly over sized closet and changing, we still didn't feel comfortable changing in front of one another. I really didn't mind, though I did notice unlike Rei, Asuka generally left the door slightly ajar.

"So, will you promise to stop drinking?" I asked.

"Uh, hell no, I still value my right, but I promise to do my best to no longer get hammered." Asuka said as she stepped into bed. I was happy we had that problem resolved.

"Oh, you missed some funny news." I said starring into her eyes, still somewhat bloodshot.

"And that would be?" She asked.

"Hikari and Kaworu have a date this weekend, and I was suspended for the rest of the week." I said to her, watching her reaction. It went through many motions but in the end it settled in sleep. Before she fell asleep I finally said something I usually had trouble saying. Stroking her hair I whispered into her ear, "I love you too Asuka." Before pulling her a little closer to me and Rei.

End Chapter 17


	22. Chapter 18: A Little Birdy told me

Chapter 18: A Little Birdy told me.

Disclaimer: Yadda Yadda, I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or related media.

The next few weeks went in peace. Kaworu and Hikari had started to go out every other day or so. I kept practicing my AT-field whenever I could. Asuka stopped drinking to the point of getting hammered. Rei just abstained from alcohol altogether unless offered or a special occasion across. Misato and Kaji had become engaged, which was met with much cheer. Toji finally got a real grave stone placed, along with the rest of his family.

"Hey Shinji, mind helping me with something?" Kaji asked.

"What would that be?" I asked back.

"I want to take Misato on a picnic to a little place I have been going to lately, I wanted to see if you could help me get it ready." He answered.

"Sure." I said as we got into the car. Rei and Asuka had left to help Misato pick out a dress, Kaworu was out with Horaki so I figured that I could do this.

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We slowly pulled up onto a hill, which was entirely covered in melons. "This is my home away from home." Kaji said as he stopped the car.

"So the mysterious super spy is also a gardener." I laughed.

"Shinji, now that we are here we can discuss the real reason I brought you up here." He said losing all humor.

"And that would be?" I asked.

"I know what your father has done to both Asuka and Rei." He said.

"Shit, I thought he was just bluffing." I said raising my palm to my face.

"I barely thought that he would go through with something so horrid, but you're in luck." He said smiling somewhat, then handed me a orange bottle with a few pills in it.

"This will counteract the virus he has placed in their systems. You might also want to take one, I do not know if he also has poisoned you." He said.

"Thanks." I said taking the bottle, understanding the importance of this situation.

"I have a feeling that is not the only reason we are up here." I said on a hunch.

"You would be correct, while I do need your help to clear out a spot for me and Misato's picnic, I also wanted to ask you what do you know so far about this situation." He said. Once we got out I started to explain to the extent of my knowledge, much of it he already knew, he also filled in some of the blanks. "You know, I thought that all this bullshit would have ended when the second impact happened but, I guess we can all be wrong." He said looking down.

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When we had finished clearing a small spot near a cherry blossom tree he started to explain all the players in this game, and their pawns. He however did leave out all the names of the SEELE members, which he explained that he had never made actual contact with them, he just did as told. "So, why are you betraying them?" I asked.

"Shinji, I can not be part of the Third Impact, at least not willingly. I want to live a long happy life with Misato, to grow old with her, to have kids eventually. I don't want the chance of a happy life with her to end." He said.

"I think I understand." Was all I said back.

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After we got back to the apartment complex we were locked out of Misato's apartment. Rei was very rigid in the fact that the groom was not allowed to see the wife in her dress before the wedding. When I asked her why I was not allowed in she simply answered that Asuka was helping Misato size the dress. With that, I had no more questions and headed up to the roof. Kaji had abandoned the idea of getting in the apartment and went to a bar.

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A few hours passed, which I didn't notice, I had fallen asleep on the roof, when I was awoken. A bolt of lightning had exploded to a tree near the apartment complex. Quickly waking up I was not surprised to find Kaworu smirking. "Sup man." I said groggily.

"I thought it would be wise to wake you." He said still smirking.

"How did your date go?" I asked him. He was immediately caught off guard.

"Well, I suppose." He said.

"Shinji, I have a question, Hikari wants us to take the "next step" in our relationship. I do not know what that means, would you enlighten me?" He asked.

"You're bullshiting me right?" I asked.

"No." He answered firmly.

"The next step would be sleeping together." I said.

"Care to explain?" Kaworu asked with the utmost curiosity. I slowly got up and told him to follow me before knocking on Misato's door. Rei came out and quickly shut the door behind her.

"We are not~" She started frowning as soon as she saw Kaworu.

"Hello." He said smirking.

"Hey Rei, would you mind doing me a favor?" I asked her, to which she then returned to smiling at me.

"I would not mind at all, as long as I am still guarding this door." She said.

"Kaworu needs the talk Misato gave us a while ago." I said.

"May I inquire why?" Rei asked.

"Hikari has decided that we need to move to the next step in our relationship, which I do not understand." Kaworu answered.

"That is strange. Me and Asuka have been with Shinji for much longer and we have not gotten to that stage yet." Rei said giving me a quick glance, then continued, "Well then..."

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I slowly snuck away then back upstairs. It took Kaworu a full fifteen minutes until he did the same. "That was... I do not even have a word for that." He said.

"Yeah, and you got the short version." I said.

"THERE IS A LONGER VERSION?" He asked amazed.

"Yeah. Misato gave us a very long and very detailed speech." I said laughing.

"Remind me to never broach her about this subject." He said. He then went back downstairs to his apartment so he could try to process the information. I returned downstairs a while later and asked Rei how much longer it would be. She wasn't very forthcoming with an answer so I asked her an easier question, which was if they would be wanting me to cook tonight. The answer was no because they already ate, which I accepted then went to my apartment. I prepared me a quick meal and took a shower. Deciding that I was going to be alone for a while anyway I headed out into the night.

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It wasn't long til I was in a largely ghetto part of town. I then decided to start my hunt. Slowly walking around dark alleys and closed corners I found my first prey. He was a large burly man, probably weighing in at 230 pounds. He had been following me for some time, I do not know why, but I knew what came next. "Hey you, kid, stop right there." He said. I stopped for a moment. "Turn around." I did so slowly. "Give me all the money you got." He demanded.

"I think not." I said to him, watching closely.

"What did you just say?" He asked.

"I said no." I said back.

"Guess its my lucky day then." He said approaching me, taking a knife from behind his back. When he got close enough I waited till he placed the knife against me. I had a hunch I wanted to try. I grabbed his wrist and focused on the idea of him exploding. I was half expecting it not to happen when he did explode. It was glorious, his body pretty much vaporized itself. The rest of the night was me testing out how the AT-Field worked on the human body. I went around finding undesirables and repeating the process with different results. One I even left alive when his skin split from his body. I didn't figure it would hurt when I forced his tongue to separate from his body. I kept him from bleeding out and left him as he was.

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When I finally returned home I was content. I opened the door to my apartment and walked inside announcing my presence. "Shinji, it is good to know you are home." Rei said without looking from the kitchen.

Asuka however started screaming. "SHINJI? ARE YOU OKAY? REI GET IN HERE!" She kept screaming.

Rei ran into the living room, "Asuka, what is wrong?" Rei asked until she looked at me.

"Shinji, are you alright?" Rei asked.

"Er, why wouldn't I be?" I asked. I finally looked down at my clothes. "OH SHIT." I said before trying to calm them down.

"There is so much blood." Asuka said.

"Shinji, I demand you to tell us what happened." Rei said.

"Er... I don't think y'all will want to know." I said back.

"SHINJI GIVE ME A GOD DAMN EXPLANATION NOW OR I AM CALLING THE COPS!" Asuka yelled again.

"Could you quiet down?" I asked.

"Asuka, calm down." Rei went over to Asuka and placed her hand over her mouth.

"Shinji. YOU need to talk NOW." Rei said.

"Okay, I went out." I said and shrugged.

"What did you do exactly on this outing?" Rei asked.

"I tested some of my new abilities of those who chose to forsake an understandable moral system." I said.

"So you were killing people." Asuka said.

"People don't go around threatening kids or trying to mug them in the middle of the night." I said back.

"Shinji, don't try to justify what you have done. It makes you just as bad as them." Asuka said.

"I agree with Asuka." Rei said.

"How many?" Asuka then asked.

"Injured or killed?" I asked laughing.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Asuka then asked, looking disgusted.

"The fact that y'all are getting angry about this." I said still laughing.

"You're a fucking monster." Asuka said.

"Shinji, please try to explain what motivated you to do this." Rei then said.

"To be honest, I was bored." I said.

"YOU DON'T GO OUT AND KILL PEOPLE BECAUSE YOU ARE BORED!" Asuka then yelled.

"Would you have preferred me to allow those people to live? I mean most of them DID pull a weapon on me, the others had people do it for them." I said but Asuka was already ignoring anything I said.

"That doesn't excuse the fact that you killed them." Asuka said.

"I see no difference between killing of any monster. We kill the angels because they kill innocent people correct? Well, I just wiped out some people who have probably done the exact same thing." I said.

"Shinji, that still doesn't make you right." Asuka said in a hushed voice.

"Rei, what do you think?" I asked.

"I believe that you do posses a point, however flawed the way you have accomplished it may be." She said.

"REI, YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!" Asuka gasped.

"He has helped the people as a whole, just like when we fight the angels. He might have saved hundreds of lives with the death of a few questionable characters." Rei said to Asuka.

"That doesn't absolve him from the fact he did just go out and kill other human beings." Asuka then said.

"You know what... I am tired of this, call the cops if you want, I am going to go take a shower." I said.

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I quickly peeled off my blood soaked clothes, and slowly showered. Replaying tonight's events in my head. I didn't feel bad for doing it either. It wasn't my first time and I supposed it wouldn't be my last. It was just my way of fixing the world's problems one person at a time. All of those people deserved what they got. As far as I was concerned, they were not humans, they were monsters. I then thought of an old quote I read once upon a time in a book, _"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."_ Eh fuck it. I didn't care, I was having to much fun. After brushing my teeth and everything else I switched into a new pair of clothing and walked back into the living room.

"So you haven't called the cops yet." I said.

"Shinji... I don't think... Rei?" Asuka was at a loss of words.

"Shinji, Asuka is in shock. I do not know how to fix this." I walked up to Asuka and placed my hand on her shoulder.

"Asuka, listen to me, I may be a monster, but a monster still feels love. I love you Asuka, I love both you and Rei. Please listen to me." I said watching her calm down a bit.

"Shinji, please stop." Asuka said.

"Stop what?" I asked.

"I don't know how to feel. I love you, but I can't love the fact of what you have done. Isn't it wrong to go kill people?" She asked.

"Asuka, after doing what they have done, they cease to be people. They are monsters. And what do we do to monsters?" I asked her, hoping to appeal to her logic.

"We kill them." Asuka finally got it. Everything began to click in her head. "Killing people is wrong, but both the criminal and the cop kill. The criminal wants to kill because he finds joy in it, the cop kills because he want to protect. You were protecting the innocent by killing them." Asuka said.

"I don't know if you can put it that way. I just didn't like knives or guns pointed at me, nor did I like how they were threatening me, but either way." I pointed out.

"What do you mean they were threatening you?" Asuka asked.

"I didn't just go out and murder everyone, Asuka, I went around waiting till they tried to hurt me exclusively. I wanted to be sure before I did anything." I said.

"Then you have done nothing wrong." Rei said.

"A man who does not fight back is not a samurai, by striking these people down, you have indeed proven yourself to be." She finished.

"Rei, I still think you are taking this Samurai thing a little too far. I mean technically I serve no one, so wouldn't I be a ronin?" I said.

"Yes but even a ronin must prove he follows the way of the samurai." She answered.

"Not fighting that point." I said back while wondering if she had been the one who made my copy of Hagakure disappear.

"If they were threatening MY Shinji... I would do much much worse than just kill them." Asuka said not looking at anything in particular. She was staring off into space rather angrily.

"Asuka, you alright?" I asked.

"Oh just perfect Shinji, I am happy you are safe." She said with a large grin.

"Okay then, who is ready for bed?" I asked slightly disturbed on how her opinion had changed when it went from me killing people to me killing people who threatened me. Asuka seemed a little protective after I mentioned that fact.

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That night it was rather easy to fall asleep. I was tired from using my AT-Field. Asuka nearly fell asleep as fast as I did. Rei hadn't even gotten into bed yet. My dreams drifted from how I killed those men to how it would have been different had Asuka or Rei been involved. Had either one of them been threatened, it would have made it much, much worse.

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We were woke by a large banging on the door to the apartment. I told Rei and Asuka to stay put. I answered the door with my knife, Asuka being more pragmatic had grabbed the pistol she had stolen from Misato. Opening the door I saw it was Kaworu.

"Shinji, WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?" Kaworu said walking into the apartment.

"What do you mean?" I asked him. He sat down on the couch and turned on the TV and flipped to the news.

"23 bodies have been found in the Kinokawa district. One man has been found to be critically injured." The news reporter said.

"Don't tell me you didn't have anything to do with that." He said rather angrily.

"So what if I did?" I asked.

"Shinji, don't you get it? Every time you use your AT-Field to such an extent like this it will light up as a blue mark on NERV's god damn radar. It also ATTRACTS other god damned angels" He said angrily.

"Wait, that means~" Someone started banging on the front door.

"KIDS, ANGEL DETECTED, WE HAVE GOT TO GO." Misato yelled through the door.

"Asuka, go get dressed, tell Rei to do the same. Kaworu, we need you to come with us." I started shouting orders.

I answered the door. "One sec Misato, we are all getting ready." I said.

"Okay, is Kaworu with y'all, he didn't answer when I tried his door." She asked.

"Yeah, he just got here. I am pretty sure he heard you." I said looking back at him. He nodded.

"Okay." She said and left.

"FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK. WHY DID YOU NOT TELL ME THIS EARLIER?" I asked him.

"I didn't think that you would go out and murder 23 people and maim another." He said back.

"Whatever. It doesn't matter now. We have to go." I said to him. Asuka and Rei returned from our room and I went inside and changed into a pair of pants and put on my boots. Then we left.

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"Move over Shinji." Asuka demanded.

"Asuka, there isn't any room to do that." I said.

"You don't see to mind him that close to you at night." Rei said.

"SHUT UP REI." Asuka yelled.

"Also, Shinji, I understand that Kaworu and Hikari have advanced to the next stage of their relationship, and they have not known each other for even half as long as we have. Does this mean we should move to the next step as well?" Rei asked.

"SHUT UP REI." Both me and Kaworu said at the same time.

"That is enough coffee for you in the morning." I said sighing as Misato burst out laughing.

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When we arrived at NERV headquarters I was shoved into the male changing room. Me and Kaworu changed into our plug suits.

"So, Shinji, Why haven't you tried to go any further with your relationship between you, Rei, and Asuka?" He asked.

"I don't think it would be the smartest idea." I answered honestly.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I don't know what I would do if either one of them got hurt, and from what I have seen, me disappearing at any time is great way to get them hurt. If we bond in that way I think it might make them rather... Fuck it... What would they do if I died? I want them not to be so attached that they can't move on." I said.

"While that is noble, you are missing one point." He said.

"And what's that?" I asked.

"They are already there." He said then walked out. 'I wonder if he is right.' I thought to myself.

I was led to Unit 01 and waited to be powered on. "Pilot Ikari, do you understand?" I heard a voice say.

"The angel is in orbit above the earth, we can't do anything but wait for it to come down. I will wait with Asuka at the designated point and Rei will be launched if complications arise. Kaworu will be watching from the command room." I repeated what I heard.

"Good." Was the last thing I heard.

Me and Asuka were deployed side by side. I then took the time to switch over to the pilot only channel. "Asuka, while we have got a moment, we need to talk." I said over the channel.

"Yeah Shinji?" She asked.

"I want to know how you honestly feel about last night." I said slightly pained.

"Shinji... I love you... I might not like what you have done but you... Look Shinji, I can't say it very easily, so I'll say this. If you hadn't fought back... Had you of died, I don't think I would have been able to live without you." She said.

"Asuka, I want you to promise me something." I asked.

"And what would that be?" She asked back.

"If I ever was going to hurt you or Rei, please kill me." I said.

"Shinji, if you ever do that, I won't kill you. I will make you live to regret it." She said with a smile. Then a beam of light enveloped her Eva.

"ASUKA?" I yelled as she started contorting as if she was having a seizure.

"ASUKA?" I repeated. Switching back to the regular channel I began yelling. "SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH ASUKA, SHE NEEDS HELP." I screamed over the coms.

"We cannot detect any change in the Eva, but her vital signs are becoming irregular by the second. The emergency code is being rejected, we cannot eject her plug." someone over the coms said.

"IF YALL CANT DO IT, I WILL." I said as I ripped her plug out of the Eva. I could still see the screen inside her Eva. She was not doing well. I sat her down and ejected my own plug against orders.

"SHINJI, SHE MAY BE CONTAMINATED, STAY AWAY FROM THAT PLUG!" Someone yelled again and again. I ripped open her plug and saw her. Her eyes had started glowing blue.

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Another flash of light hit the pod when I grabbed her. I was transported somewhere else. Asuka was curled in a ball, in a corner, in the darkness. "Asuka?" I called.

"Shinji?" She looked up at me. "Are you the real Shinji?" She asked.

"Yes Asuka. Are you all right?" I asked, excited that she looked fine. Before she could answer the scene changed again.

"NO NO NO NO! MOMMY!" I watched as a young Asuka, a child no older than five, tried pulling her mother down from the rope she hung herself on. The older Asuka that I knew was balled up in a corner. I ran over to her, picked her up and hugged her.

"Asuka, it's alright." I said as I held her.

"Shinji... Please... Help me." She began to hug back.

The scene changed again to one I did not understand. Asuka was standing at her mother's grave, but a strange man had placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Asuka, please understand. This isn't my fault." He said.

"LIAR!" She yelled then shoved a knife into his gut. She then started running.

"Asuka, are these your memories?" I asked. She was still unresponsive. "Asuka." I said looking at her. Her eyes began to glow blue again. "ASUKA SNAP OUT OF IT!" I yelled at her.

"Shinji?" She asked, as if she forgot I was here.

"Asuka, this isn't real. These event are the past. Wake up." I grabbed a hold of her.

"Shinji? Are you here?" She asked. I then got an idea. Embracing her to me I kissed her, her lips were colder than ice, her whole body seemed to be going into shock. She seemed to wake up a little and shoved her tongue down my throat.

"MMPH!" I tried to say until she pulled away.

"Shinji, I think it is time to go home." She said and smiled weakly.

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The void into Asuka's mind collapsed, pushing us back into reality. She was still sitting in her chair when I pulled her out. When she woke up fully she shoved her tongue down my throat again. "MMPH MMPH MMPH!" I tried yelling out but It was blocked. When she finally relented she hugged me and said,

"Thank you Shinji." she said.

I looked at her closely, "that seems like a little bit of disproportionate retribution don't you think?" I asked.

Asuka smirked, "Only boy that would complain about getting kissed." She hugged me again.

I then noticed several aircraft circling the area, a spotlight then lit us up.

"Please stand away from Pilot Soryu." A voice said over a mega phone. "We believe she is contaminated." They said again.

Her left eye flashed blue and she began screaming. "ASUKA?" I yelled as I ran over to her.

"SHINJI, IT HURTS, HELP!" She screamed.

"PILOT IKARI, STAY AWAY FROM THE INFECTED!" They then decided to pepper the area in bullets. A few rounds hit less than a foot away from us.

"STOP SHOOTING, YOU MAY HIT HER!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

"We have orders to kill the infected." The man holding the rifle said.

"I WON'T LET YOU!" I said deciding to make a last stand. I grabbed at the concrete below me and willed it into a wall. Protecting Asuka was top priority. "I DON'T WANT TO KILL ANYONE, SOMEONE GET ME HELP!" I yelled.

"Our new orders have come in, we are to secure the infected. Please stand by for pickup." I heard before a helicopter landed a few meters from us. I was still clutching to Asuka who was now convulsing.

"Asuka, you are going to be okay, we have help now, you are going to be okay." I said crying into her hair. She had stopped convulsing and lightly brushed her hand against my face.

"Shinji." She said then blacked out. I carried her on board the helicopter and held her the entire way to the Geofront.

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They tried separating us but every time someone got close I heated the air just to the point of burning their skin. They didn't push the fact when two armed guards tried to separate us and all the rounds in their magazines all went off at once. I carried Asuka along with the squad of guards to a room with a coffin in it.

"Place the Sohryu in the coffin." I heard Dr. Ritsuko say.

"What will happen?" I asked.

"The coffin is a seal against any angelic life forms. It will seal any that may of infected her system." She answered.

"I am not leaving her alone. I am going to enter it with her." I said before stepping into the coffin. Slowly laying down with her in my arms I watched the lid close on to us, then the coffin turned red for a moment, my whole body began to shake as if I was on fire.. Asuka began to stir.

"Shinji? Where are we? What's wrong?" She asked.

"Asuka, we are back at NERV. They are going to help you now." I said holding myself from breaking down in pain.

"Shinji, why are you shaking?" She asked.

"This pod was built to seal away angel contamination." I said smiling at her, if only for her sake.

"SHINJI? THAT MIGHT KILL YOU!" She yelled inside the pod, then started to bang on the lid.

"I had to be sure you were safe." I said then passed out.

"SHINJI? Please be okay." I heard through the darkness.

"I don't know what he was thinking. This was a completely suicidal move. With his DNA like it is that was possibly the worst choice he could have made." I heard another voice through the darkness. Finally waking up I saw Asuka, standing above me.

"Hi." I said weakly.

"BAKA!" She said relieved, then slammed her fist into the side of my face.

I noticed something different about her. "What is with the eye patch?" I said. She flipped it up for a second and I saw why she kept it on. Her eye was just as blue as ever but had a slight glow to it.

"They sealed it but they can't do anything about this." She said hanging her head down.

"I still think you look as beautiful as ever." I said.

"I know!" she said happily, and back to her usual personality. I then noticed I could not move my body.

"Er... What the fuck." I said trying to move.

"Pilot Ikari, the seal may have caused some issues." Dr. Ritsuko said over the speakers.

"Oh, just great, now how do FIX this?" I said. I then decided to try something. I waited before I felt my AT-Field again and decided to use it to force my body to move. It felt like I was using my body as a doll but I didn't care when I got up and hugged Asuka.

"Now that feels much better." I said watching her blush a little.

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Getting around was a much more difficult before I saw Rei and decided to renew my vigor. Walking over to her I gave her a hug as well. "God I love y'all." I said when I pulled Asuka into the hug. After a minute or so I fell to the ground.

"SHINJI?" Asuka yelled, "Are you all right?" she asked.

"Just peachy." I said, noticing I was still in my plug suit. Using my AT-Field I started to correct small portions of what was wrong, it hurt like hell.

"Pilot Ikari, please report to the command center." Dr. Ritsuko said over the speakers.

Walking in was a problem. It took both Rei and Asuka to help carry me to the command room. "Pilot Ikari. You have once again proven to be untrustworthy on the battle field." My father said.

"Blow it out your ass." I said, then added before he could counter, "I quit."

"What?" Asuka said shocked.

"Pilot Ikari has just quit." Rei said to Asuka.

"Shinji, please reconsider, this is a really bad idea." Asuka said trying to appeal to my logic. "Can we have one second?" Asuka asked and pulled me and Rei out of the room.

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"Asuka, do you know where my jacket is?" I asked.

"Yeah, in the changing room. Why?" She asked.

"I need one of y'all to go get it immediately." I replied.

"Shinji, a jacket is not going to help if you are still covered in LCL." Asuka said.

"Rei, please go get my jacket, there is something important in it." I asked.

"I will be right back." She said dropping out from under me.

"Shinji, what is going on?" Asuka asked.

"When Rei gets back I will explain everything." I said. Rei got back shortly after that, then handed me my jacket. I pulled out the little orange bottle I had stored in it last night.

"Asuka, take this." I said handing her a pill, then repeated the process with Rei, then swallowed my own.

"Shinji?" Asuka asked still looking at the pill.

"Asuka, your life is in danger if you don't take that pill." I said. Rei then forced Asuka to swallow the pill and then took her own.

"DAMN IT WONDERGIRL!" Asuka said coughing.

"Asuka, to explain, my dad was a dick and poisoned you and Rei. He was using you as a way to keep me from disobeying orders. That pill you just took I got from Kaji after he discovered what he had done." I said looking into her right eye, her left was still covered.

"What do you mean poisoned us?" Asuka asked.

"He gave you some sort of virus, Kaji gave me a cure of some sort. He was going to kill you if I disobeyed." I said.

"Okay then... What now?" She asked. Rei was still standing still.

"Rei, I have a question, I didn't want to ever have to ask this of you but, do you love me?" I asked.

"Yes." Was her answer.

"Now for the hard part. Do you love me more than you care for my father?" I choked out.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"He is asking you to choose." Asuka said not understanding the gravity of the situation.

"Shinji, I do not understand." Rei asked again.

"Rei, what is about to happen will end all of this." I said.

"I still do not understand." Rei said.

"Shinji, what ever you are planning stop now." Asuka growled and her eye lit up.

"Asuka, Please keep Rei out here." I said standing up.

"Shinji, what are you planning?" Rei asked, looking confused. I just bolted through the command room doors and welded them shut with my AT-Field.

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"Pilot Ikari, have you come to a decision?" My father asked, seemingly unamused.

"I want to know everything." I said looking up at the raised platform.

"That is not necessary." He said looking down at me.

"It seems pretty god damn necessary to me. I want to know why before I choose anything." I said. I began to look around. I noticed it was only him and his helper in the room with me.

"Father, if you won't answer that, then I want to at least know one thing. Why did you do all of this?" I asked, wanting to know one fact before I placed my plan in action.

"Shinji, the instrumentality will save all of humanity, we can be reunited with your mother." He said with a sigh.

"I am sorry but I am going to have to refuse, but I will give you a better offer." I said looking at him.

"What do you mean?" He said looking a little shocked.

"I can't let you go through with the instrumentality plot. It is wrong to force that on everyone, but I can offer to reunite you and mother." I said. He quickly pulled out a gun, but I had already started. Using my jacket as a catalyst I threw it into the air. I quickly imagined it exploding with enough force to destroy the upper platform.

"Commander?" My father's assistant called out. Before I heard anything else a gunshot rang out. I slowly looked at myself, watching for what I was sure would be blood. Looking around I noticed that I had no blood anywhere on me.

"What the hell?" I said before looking around. Kaworu had opened the doors and Kaji had shot my father's arm which he held the gun with. "Er... What the fuck?" I asked looking at Kaworu.

"Shinji, Rei found me as soon as you shut the doors. She said you were about to commit suicide." He smirked.

When I found my father he was still alive, but he was in shock. I noticed that he had taken off one of his gloves. I stared straight into the eye that was growing out of his palm. "So, I am going to assume, this is Adam?" I asked him.

"You little shit... I should have known better." He coughed.

"It runs in the family." I said before placing my hand on his arm and separating him from Adam, then cauterized the wound.

"I am not going to kill you." I said then walked away. "Gendo, you are relieved from command. From henceforth, Katsuragi shall be taking up the position of Commander." I said into the room when everyone rushed in. "Commander Katsuragi, what are your orders?" I asked still waving around Adam.

"I want him locked in a cell, along with the old vice commander." Misato shouted to the people in the room. The quickly followed her orders. "Dr. Ritsuko, I want to know everything. Now." Misato said turning to the doctor. Figuring my job was done I jumped down from the broken part of the platform.

"Shinji?" Asuka asked looking at the arm in my hand.

"Don't worry about it." I said.

"Shinji, I require that." Kaworu said asking for the arm.

"Sorry man, but I think I figured out a plan. We now have all the spears, plus Adam and Lilith. And you said there were only 18 angels correct?" I asked him.

"Yeah, but I don't see how that has anything to do with this." He said with a frown.

"That means there are only 3 more. If we can defend Lilith and Adam from the next three, the war is over, we win." I said.

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I looked around the room and found Rei. She looked shocked at what had happened and I went over and decided to talk to her. "Rei, do you want to see him?" I asked looking at her.

"I would prefer not." She said relieved when I walked out of the room. Asuka was still back congratulating Misato. Kaji and Kaworu were discussing what to do about SEELE, which so far was, "Sic Shinji on them." from what I got.

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The rest of that day was nothing but joy. Misato and Kaji were happily discussing the new changes that were coming up, Asuka was in the medical lab, seeing if they could do anything about her eye, which seemed strange. Rei was with her. Kaworu was busy unlocking his Eva from lock down. I was left by myself, so I decided I might as well make the most of it when I went and took a shower and changed into a set of my clothing that I always left here. I had already begun to miss my jacket. NERV Headquarters felt as if they constantly kept the temperature at 50F. After changing I went to the Misato's old office and passed out on the couch.

End Chapter 18


	23. Chapter 19: HALT! HAMMERZIET!

Chapter 19: Halt Hammerzeit

Disclaimer: Read previous statements on my stance of this. They get boring to type out after a while. Also, I will disclaim the part of this story that is under lots of bold. Fair warning on it.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked.

"Look Shinji, it's her birthday, you should do something special." Misato said.

"Misato, I have no idea what to do..." I said.

"Well, she seems rather attentive on a certain "present."" Misato replied laughing, then handed me a box.

"Misato, you cannot be serious. I mean, she is turning sixteen, not eighteen." I said.

"Shinji, if she thinks she is ready, I would go for it. That and, are you SURE you are a boy, I mean, most males would not pass up a chance to do something like this, especially with someone as beautiful as Asuka." Misato replied.

"Look, Asuka is great looking, and I love her, just what about the psychological impact of doing something like that?" I asked.

"Honestly, I think you are trying too hard to avoid it." Misato laughed

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXThree days later.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, Asuka, your birthday is coming up, any chance on telling me what you want?" I thought this question over in my head, but I think now was the time to ask it, we were doing dishes together after all.

"Shinji, I think we both know what I want." She said in a very seductive voice that sent tingles up my spine.

"Look, Asuka, we both know that is a very BAD idea, what happens if you get pregnant, or hurt?" I asked, trying to convince her otherwise.

"We both know I am on the pill, so is Rei. Chances are extremely slim, Hell. You could even wear protection if you want." Asuka answered.

As we kept talking Rei entered the room. "Asuka, what do you desire for your celebration of the day you were born?" she asked.

"GOD DAMN IT, WHAT IS WITH PEOPLE ASKING ME THAT?" Asuka yelled, as I sighed.

"Rei, I think she wants me to bed her." I said.

"That is acceptable, but I cannot do so as well, therefor will be getting her a different present." Rei said.

"See? Even Rei thinks it is a good idea." Asuka pointed to her.

"Yeah, but I still don't." I said back.

"Look, if you don't want to do it, I could always go ask Hikari if she would mind sharing Kaworu for a night." Asuka said with a smirk. After she had turned away I grabbed her arm, locked it, and pushed her against the edge of the table, then forced her face to look to the side against the table. She growled a bit and tried to move, but eventually saw it as useless.

"Is this really what you want? Me to be like this?" I asked her, watching her squirm underneath me.

"How come you are so much more assertive like this? I kind of like it. And if that is what it takes for you to finally man up, sure." She said, catching me off guard.

"Shinji, Would you please let Asuka go? I think you may be hurting her." Rei asked. I quickly let Asuka up, and waited.

"You done?" She asked in a disappointed, and very pissed tone.

"Asuka. We both know that I don't have a very good sense of control." I said. "I really just don't want to hurt you." I finished.

"If you are that concerned, then we'll just make sure to be safe." Asuka shrugged.

"Rei, what do you think?" I asked the blue haired girl.

"It didn't take Hikari as long to advance her and Kaworu's relationship. I would consider myself jealous. I do believe it is time to for us to advance to the physical stage as well." Rei replied.

"Is no one on my side?" I asked looking at the ceiling.

**[NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW PROBABLY NOT SAFE FOR HOME EITHER.] GENERAL NOTE, I hate writing crap like this. Fair warning, I probably suck at it too. I thought about removing this scene but decided not to because it was in the original.**

The rest of that night was rather tense. Asuka kept dropping hints on how it would be nice if she "received" her gift early. She also went to bed that night in laced underwear.

"Asuka, shouldn't you wear something on top of that?" I asked.

"Ease of access." She pointed out, then added, "in case you change your mind." Then giggled. She then laid down close to me and pushed herself against me. "Not all of you seems to agree with your decision." She said, noticing the growing erection. Deciding it would be a good idea to goad me, she turned around then pressed herself further up against me, placing a hand against the outer side of my thigh.

"Asuka, I do believe Shinji is still against this course of action, no matter what his biological reaction may be." Rei said from behind me.

"Wonder girl, shut it. I am trying to convince him otherwise." Asuka said to Rei. I then decided on another plan of action.

"Two can play at that game." I said as my hand shot down into her panties.

"Shinj~ OH SHIT!" She said as I pinched her clit. I slowly released and started running circles around it causing her to moan quietly. Watching her breathing switch to short labored breaths I got more enthused with my actions. Her panties were getting significantly wetter as time went on. "Shinji... please... it... feels... GOD DAMN IT..." Asuka could no longer talk straight. I decided it was time to go a little further. I reached a hand up to her bra and pushed it up, brushing against her breast. Her nipples had gotten rather hard so I decided to rub my hand against her breast, pinching and twisting her nipple every once in a while, switching breasts whenever it felt right.

"You know, this is kind of cute." I said watching her.

"Fuck... You..." Was all she managed. Slowly I took a finger and rubbed the outer parts of her lips.

"Do you want it?" I asked. She couldn't speak, she was almost there. I then stopped. Before I could fully remove my hand from her panties she grabbed it and forced me back down.

"Finish.. (pant) what.. you started." She said.

"Please and I might think about it." I said in a half mocking tone, tracing her lower lips to emphasize.

"Asshole." She said, knowing that I won. "please?" She said under her breath. Before she could finish asking I had already inserted a finger partially inside her, slowly rubbing against her insides. Her moans and breaths started to become even more frantic. I placed my thumb against her clit, pushing down, clamping down.

"SHINJI" She yelled as she came hard, her eye lighting up the room, then she passed out, as if it was long overdue.

"That isn't fair." Rei said from behind me.

"Jealous?" I asked her, turning around to face her.

"I remember the last time you asked me that question. This time I will answer it. Yes, I am jealous." Rei said.

"Would you like me to do that to you now?" I asked.

"Would you please?" She asked.

"You sure you want this?" I asked again.

"Yes." I skipped some of the foreplay when I noticed her panties were already soaked. I immediately removed her bra and started rubbing against her breasts. Hers were not as large as Asuka's, but had a much more tight feel. I then began to feel her crotch. I pressed against her clit watching for a response, she was much more enduring than Asuka, but she was getting there.

"Rei, if you want me to stop, just say so." I said. Tracing out her lower lips she started moaning. I pressed one finger into her, watching her as I did it. Slowly applying pressure I went deeper into her before she hissed.

"Stop, If you go any further, you will break my hymen." She explained.

"Okay then, how about this?" I asked when I started pulling my fingers out and shoving them back in. Her breaths became more labored before she came.

"That felt incredible." She said, calming down a little. "Would you like me to return the favor?" She asked as she pressed her hand against my boxers.

"You do not know how much I wish I could say yes, but for now, no thank you, maybe soon though." I said as I kissed her forehead then rolled over onto my back. Rei grabbed a hold of my side and pulled herself close, her nipples still hard from the fun. Asuka I had to pull closer before she instinctively pulled herself, still asleep.

**[NSFW ENDS, YOU CAN START READING AGAIN AFTER THIS LINE.]**

I awoke that morning to an empty bed. I quickly got up and changed into my clothes. "God damn I miss my jacket." I said noticing its absence from where it was usually draped on my chair.

"DAMN IT!" Someone in the kitchen yelled.

"Er... That's not good." I sighed. Slowly I walked toward the kitchen, noting Asuka with a skillet on fir~ "What the fuck?" I asked, grabbing the skillet from her. "Is this grease?" I asked, rather worried.

"I think not?" She replied, nervously. Taking a jar out of the cabinet, I funneled the grease into the jar.

"Asuka, I don't know what you were trying to cook, but you can't let grease get this hot." I said, fiasco over.

"Sorry." She said looking away.

"Something wrong?" I asked, still holding the pan. Looking around I noticed some very conspicuous items.

"Er... Asuka, I don't think, wait, are those, HOLY SHIT where did you get steaks?" I asked amazed.

"I wanted to thank you for last night." Asuka said under her breath. I began to remember the event that she must have been referring to.

"OH SHIT!" I said. "Look, Asuka, that was not, er..., look, don't expect that to be happening again, at least not anytime soon. That was a momentary lapse of reason. I wasn't thinking straight." I said.

"I am pretty sure you were thinking pretty straight, especially when your dick was as hard as it was." She countered, somewhat pouting.

"Where is Rei?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"Rei is at the Vet, trying to get the wild animal all it's shots." Asuka said.

"Oh..." I said.

"Which means, you and me are all alone... Wanna give me my present early?" She asked.

"Asuka, WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS GOING ON ABOUT THIS?" I asked.

"Because I want to." Asuka said laughing.

"Not funny." was my response.

"Look Shinji, Either you are going to propose to me, or we are going to have sex. I don't care which." She said, then added, "And how can you resist the idea of getting to play with THESE again?" Cupping her breasts for emphasis.

"Why are you so obsessed with this issue?" I asked.

"We all have our reasons for the things we want." She responded.

"Yeah, that doesn't explain why though." I said back.

"I want to know what it feels like, not only that, but I have been thinking a lot lately about how things might have ended up differently had this not happened. I mean, what would have happened if you weren't there when we were in the ocean? I would have died. I want to show my appreciation for that, and show you that I am serious about our relationship, especially when we do finally move from here." She said.

"Asuka, before we do that I want to know something. You know wherever we end up, Rei is coming with us right?" I asked.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." She said smiling before I started to make the steaks to the best of my ability.

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A few days passed, still a good week before Asuka's birthday. Nights followed like normal, nothing happening but sleep.

"So, I am going to guess that is the angel?" Asuka asked looking at the white ring in the sky.

"I believe so." Rei answered her.

"So how do we kill it?" I asked looking at the thing, it didn't have a core present.

"You are going to have to wait until we have a full analysis on it." Misato said over the coms.

"Yeah, that's great and all, but I really don't want to have to spend any more time then necessary out here." Asuka said.

"I agree with Asuka." Rei said.

"Look, we are trying as hard as we can to speed this up." Misato said.

"Whatever." Asuka said laying back in her chair.

"I think something is happening." I said watching the thing break apart slowly.

"It's field is pulsing, get ready for whatever happens." Misato ordered. The line of light flew across the field at high speed, impacting Unit 00's chest, then started to drill it's way into the Eva.

"The angel is try to merge with the Eva, kill it quickly!" Someone yelled over the com channel. I dropped my gun and ran over to her.

"How do I kill it?" I asked, watching the window with Rei to make sure she was okay.

"Try cutting it!" Asuka yelled from behind me. I deployed my prog knife and began to cut at the line, but it just fused back together.

"NOT WORKING!" I yelled over the com channel. Rei was beginning to twitch in her seat. "Rei are you okay?" I asked looking at her.

"It is beginning to hurt." She said grabbing a hold of her chest. I then grabbed the worm-like angel and pulled it. Asuka had grabbed a hold of it behind me and we started pulling it out of Unit 00.

"GOD DAMN IT!" I yelled, watching it start to spread faster. "Rei, eject your plug!" I ordered. Her plug ejected and Asuka grabbed it and started running away from the scene, to get Rei to safety. "Okay Asshole, now its my turn." I said holding onto the angel. It shot into Unit 00 at a higher speed now.

"Shinji, let it merge with the Eva, we can destroy it with the self destruct." Misato said over the coms. Following her order I let go of the angel and it finished fusing it's way into Unit 00. Slowly Unit 00 began to mutate into a weird looking beast. "Shit... Self Destruct has been denied." Misato said. "Shinji, destroy Unit 00." Misato yelled.

"Gladly!" I said, grabbing my knife in one hand I decided to use one of the newer weapons the Jet Alone people decided to produce. Grabbing the husk of a sword I inserted my knife, turning it into a battery. "Time to slice and dice!" I laughed, watching the sword's blade start to glow faintly. I swung the sword below Unit 00's legs and cut through them. "What the fuck?" I asked watching as worm like flesh spread from the stumps of the legs and reattach them. "Er... Something isn't right here." I said back over the coms.

"The angel is composed of millions upon billions of parasitical worms. They infect the flesh of the Eva and begin to multiply inside. You cannot just cut them to pieces." Maya said over the com channel, long since replacing Dr. Ritsuko.

"So how do I kill them?" I asked.

"Fire would work best, but if you can super heat the Eva, that would work too! All you have to do is kill all the worms at once so they can't start reproducing from the flesh you keep on killing." She said rather amazed.

"Do we have an Eva sized flamethrower?" I asked, rather annoyed by the worm's ability to regenerate damage from each of my swings, not even slowing the Eva from attacking me.

"We have a prototype, but it still doesn't work. However we do have a large electrode." She said back.

"So we are going to try to fry them all at once?" I asked, trying to guess the plan.

"Yes, but it would require you to get the Eva submerged in water then destroying the core immediately when you get a chance." Maya said.

"Send it up." I said dodging the Eva's blows.

Looking at the nearest supply depot I watched it light up. "The weapon has been delivered." She said. Running over to the supply depot I noticed that the "prod" was in fact a giant hammer with a bunch of capacitors hooked onto it. "How do I power this thing up?" I asked grabbing it and using it as a hammer for the time being.

"Do you see the power cable that extends from the shaft? Hook that into your Eva's power slot. You should be able to run it off of the power the S2 engine produces." Maya answered. Grabbing the small plug I forced it into my Eva's back, the maul began to glow.

"Now for a little payback!" I said swinging the hammer, connecting to Unit 00's face. A large flash of light and explosion of energy followed, sending the Eva back. "WHY DID Y'ALL NOT GIVE ME THIS EARLIER?" I asked, falling in love with the power it had just unleashed.

"Shinji, STOP COMPLAINING AND HURRY UP!" Asuka yelled over the channel.

"Right." I said watching Unit 00 get back up, head fully healed but the armor gone. "You are one ugly son of a bitch." I sneered at it. Unit 00 began to charge when I side stepped and landed a blow in the center of it's back, sending it flying closer to the destination I needed to get it too. I tightened my grip on the hammer and lunged forward, sprinting past it and toward the lake. Unit 00 got up and started following me, though never really able to keep pace with my Eva. When we had both arrived at the lake I waited for Unit 00 to attack, before it even got the chance it started to mutate further, expanding outward until it became nothing more than a mass of tumorous growths. "Er... Okay." I said before hitting it. Unit 00 didn't even move this time, but busted a few tumors, launching the worms all over the landscape. "OH SHIT!" I yelled watching them start to burrow into the ground.

"Shinji, destroy the angel now!" Misato yelled watching as it started to slowly push some of the tumors into the earth, most likely to send out the worms.

"Right!" I said grabbing the tumorous mass and throwing it into the lake. Grabbing my maul I pushed the head of it into the water then redirected all power into it. The water hissed before it immediately turned to steam. "I don't know how much power that would require, but I think I vaporized a lake." I said looking at the hole in the earth, the only thing remaining was the minerals in the lake, and what the Eva had been reduced to. It began to pulsate again, further mutating until I jumped high in the air and powered the maul once more. "FUCK NO YOU DON'T!" I said yelling, delivering the maul straight into the Eva's remains. The air hissed with the amount of power flowing through it until the angel exploded. Repetitively striking the flesh with the maul I finally found the core. The worms had hardened around it giving it an unbreakable shield. "FUCK! YOU! YOU! STUPID! ANGEL!" I said striking against the cage, still unable to break it. Eventually the cage began to crack against the pressure. "DIE DAMNIT!" I yelled bringing the hammer down one last time against the core, watching it shatter into millions of red little worms. "OH FUCK YOU!" I said watching them start to gather back together before delivering the maul against the ground again and again. "WHY WON'T YOU DIE?" I said, my arms getting tired from the tension in the controls, they had started to become more and more tense as I lifted the hammer overhead and brought it down, reminding me the Eva did have muscles, and they were getting a workout.

"Shinji, you cannot destroy them that way, you must kill them all at once." Maya said over the com channel.

"Yeah, that is kind of hard to do with a giant hammer." I said snarking back.

"There is an oil truck not far from the side of the lake, grab that and hit it with the hammer." Misato said, coming up with a plan. I quickly jumped up and pulled myself out of the hole that was once a lake. I spotted the truck and grabbed it, noticing that Unit 00 was already beginning to reform again.

"OH FUCK NO YOU DON'T" I yelled as I threw the truck at the beast. I then watched as the truck exploded on contacted with Unit 00, covering it with gas. "TAKE THIS!" I said delivering the last blow to the angel, cracking straight through it's rebuilt shell, lighting the gas on fire as the maul impacted the core.

"The angel is confirmed to be dead, begin cleanup of the area, kill anything that may have been contaminated. Shinji, come back to base. Begin Operation Scorch Earth" Misato began shouting orders at everyone.

"Is Rei okay?" I asked.

"I am fine Shinji." She responded from inside Unit 02.

"Good." I said walking back to base.

"Maya, how long do you think it would take to make that flamethrower work?" I asked.

"A week if we dedicated the resources to it." She said.

"Okay then, we might need to start thinking about that." I laughed.

"Pilot Ikari, you do realize with the destruction of Unit 00, we do not have any resources to dedicate to the project." Misato said.

"But, we have Kaworu and his Eva. We don't have to build another Eva." I said.

"Yes, but we have to build another in case one of the other Evas is destroyed." She said.

"I just want to get to base and take a shower." I said laughing over the mic, not caring about anything other than that for the moment.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Showoff." Asuka said, watching me get out of my Eva.

"You're just mad that I am SUPER SHINJI, Savior of Worlds." I said back, laughing. The ground then began to shake.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" Asuka yelled to some of the technicians.

"The Commander has dropped an N2 mine on the area of the dead angel. Something about destroying any contamination." Someone said.

"As for you Super Baka, I would not mind that fact so much as long as you were MY Super Baka." She said, aggravated.

"But I am your Super Baka." I said rather confused, that is, until I figured out what she was meaning.

"OH! Asuka, this is not the time or place to start talking about things like that." I said.

"I see it as good as any." She responded back.

"Can't we go one day without having to argue over this? I already agreed didn't I?" I asked.

"You might have agreed, but that doesn't mean you won't back out." She said walking towards me, before grabbing me and sinking her tongue into my mouth, to much whistling around the Eva cages. "MMPH!" I tried talking. "MMPH MMPH MMPH," I tried again, but Asuka did her best to keep me in place. When she did finally let go I caught my breath.

"Asuka, where is Rei?" I asked after regaining my composure.

"They took her to the Med Bay to check for contamination." Asuka said.

"In that case, I am going to go take a shower." I said back to her.

"Want me to come with you?" She asked with a devious smile on her face.

"Yeah, no thanks." I said turning around and walking toward the direction of the male pilot changing room, which suffice to say, served as my personal shower and changing room.

I was taking a shower when I noticed a shadow appear from outside the sliding glass door. "Identify yourself." I said. Slowly the door opened and Asuka stepped in with a towel on. "ASUKA?" I asked, amazed. She slowly dropped her towel revealing the fact she had nothing underneath it.

"Can you still say no?" She asked with a smile on her face, looking down to a certain part of my body that was growing by the second.

"Yes, I can, and shouldn't you be in you and Rei's shower room?" I asked her.

"Thought it would be more fun in here." She said as she turned around and started the shower behind me, slowly bending over to present everything.

"God damn it..." I said blushing, then turned around.

"Don't tell me you are embarrassed. I mean, you are the only one who is going to get to touch this body, other than maybe Rei." Asuka said laughing.

"Give not into temptation." I replied back.

"Prude." She replied.

"I could call you names too, but I refuse to do this." I said, still letting the soap wash off of me.

"Well, if you want a show I am soaping up my body." She said laughing still.

"Asuka, you do not know how much I want you right now, but I am not going to until we are married." I said.

"Your loss." She said, I could hear the water bouncing off her bare skin. "Shinji, just so you know, I think I understand how much you want me, just look down." She said.

Before I could say anything the door opened again, "Shinji you in here?" Kaworu asked as he stuck his head in then immediately pulled his head back out and slammed the door. Asuka went up past any shade of red I had ever seen her in before.

"And that is why females don't shower in male rooms unless they want to be seen." I said with a smirk on my face.

"Shinji, I have been told to inform you that Rei is fine." Kaworu said from behind the door.

"Thanks man." I said back.

"Shinji, would you please also inform Asuka that this is the male room? We don't have coed shower rooms." He asked.

"Already done that more than once." I said laughing back.

"GOD DAMN IT BAKA!" Asuka yelled at the top of her lungs, before wrapping herself in a towel and demanding Kaworu leave so that she can put on her clothes. I stepped out while she was still naked and drying off, not trying to present a show, not saying a word. I quickly dried off and redressed.

"Er... Asuka?" I asked noticing she was still undressed, but covered with a towel.

"Its not fair." Asuka said pouting.

"Whats not fair?" I asked her.

"The fact that you seem to get your way in everything." She said.

"Look Asuka, I don't always get my way, if I had gotten my way, you would not be in any form of danger if I could avoid it." I said looking into her eyes, one of which was still glowing. "Asuka, I love you, after all this, I want us to move somewhere far away and to live the rest of our lives in comfort." I said smiling at her. Asuka smiled for a bit before letting the towel drop from her body, much to my frustration, then she began to slowly get dressed.

"Happy with the show?" She said, as she slowly pulled up her panties.

"Asuka, we have the rest of our lives to have fun." I said back obviously enjoying the show.

Kaworu then yelled into the room, "Shinji, you and Asuka need to report down to the medical wing after you get finished doing whatever you are doing in there."

"Thanks again man." I yelled back.

"No problem." He said then left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I AM GOING TO STOP AGING?" Asuka yelled furiously at the doctor.

"It is not just you, it is all four of you." She replied back, calmly.

"Okay, then explain." I said aggravated.

"Your bodies are slowing the aging process, after a certain point, you will cease to grow older. In fact, your cells might be able to support the idea of just rebuilding the cell structure over and over, giving you a form of immortality." She said. Only me and Asuka were in the room currently with the doctor.

"Not what I meant, I want to know WHY." I said back.

"Well, the LCL fluid seems to affect the cells functions, preserving the cells along with giving them enough materials to make new ones. With the amount of "ahem" angelic influence your cells have, it gives you functional immortality." She said.

"But I thought I was not contaminated other than this?" Asuka said, lifting her eye patch.

"Miss Soryu, your DNA is contaminated, it is just the angelic influence is sealed off. If it wasn't I believe that you would probably look like young mister Ikari right here or Rei." She said.

"So we are at some point going to hit a dead end on our ability to age, and stay in that shape forever?" I asked.

"Pretty much so." The doctor replied.

"But, that means I will never be able to grow old, or die, or have a life, or anything else." Asuka said dejectedly.

"Asuka, that also mean you will never grow older and that we will be able to live together for eternity." I said looking over to her, squeezing her hand to comfort her.

"Ayanami seemed to take it well when we told her. Would you like for me to allow her in here?" The doctor asked.

"Actually, yeah, would you please?" I asked her. She left the room and escorted Rei in. "Would you mind letting us talk in private for a few minutes?" I asked, she left the room again and closed the door this time. "So, Rei, how do you feel about the news?" I asked her.

"I believe it to be great news." Rei said smiling. "Asuka, are you alright?" She said looking to Asuka.

"I'm fine Rei, just taking a little shock is all." Asuka managed a weak smile.

"Asuka, look, this means our family can live on forever, we are no longer bound by the time." I said looking at her.

"But what if we have children, they are eventually going to die before us." Asuka said frowning.

"That is something we will deal with when we get there. There is no use in crying about it now, what is done is done." I said hugging her.

"I'll try it, as long as you both are at my side." Asuka said smiling a bit.

"I promise." Rei said taking Asuka's other hand.

"I do too." I said smiling then embraced both of them in a hug.

End Chapter 19

A/N:

Spoiler alert: The whole immortality thing may be used to drive the plot further. I still want to do a after instrumentality story, which may either be attached to this one, or may be in another one.


	24. Chapter 20: No One Lives Forever

Chapter 20: The Day the Whole World Went Away

Disclaimer

"Almost done?" I asked Rei. Today was Asuka's birthday and Rei decided that she was going to cook. She was doing well from what I figured, it was all German food. She had also taken up to hiding the food from me also, no idea why.

"You may wake up Asuka now, if you wish." Was Rei's response. She had an apron on, a off white one, with a little bit of blue fringe. She was happily humming some tune that I knew but couldn't place my finger on.

I headed to my room. It was cold, Asuka had taken up to turning on the AC if she had the chance. I could not blame her, I don't think she took Japan's heat too well. From what I heard Germany had a much lower climate, along with the ungodly white stuff called snow. That and something about deer and hunting and how much I would enjoy going there.

"Hey, Asuka, wake up." I said gently nudging her, she was sound asleep, her hair spread across the pillow, snoring slightly, more like heavy breaths. "Don't want to miss today." I said nudging her again. She seemed to be waking up, with a small stretch.

"Is breakfast done?" She asked, still mostly asleep.

"Yes Asuka, breakfast is done. Rei is already getting ready to eat." I said.

"Fine!" She said still wanting to sleep, and getting rather angry, she knew it was a day off. "What is today?" She asked.

"The fourth, of December." I said hoping she would get up after mentioning that fact.

"WHAT?" She got up with a start.

"Happy Birthday Asuka." I said smiling.

"Thanks." She said before launching off the bed and into the bathroom.

"Rei, you have everything under control?" I asked, after entering the kitchen, she had insisted that she make breakfast this morning, so far she was doing well, but I noticed the table was finally uncovered.

"I am still having some trouble understanding this layout." She said with a almost transparent frown.

"Er..." I said looking into the room, the table was completely covered with different types of cold meats and breads, along with a yellow box of what looked like uncooked granola, and a few weird looking pancakes with some confectioner sugar set out. "Rei, this might have been a little overboard." I said rubbing the back of my head. "By the way, when do you want to celebrate your birthday?" I asked her, like I had done a few times before.

"I was not born physically, therefor have no date of birth." She said back.

"Yeah, we have been through this before, WHEN would you like to call your birthday?" I asked again.

"I will think about it." She said before going back to the oven to bring out what looked like a large ham, then placed it back in.

"MIEN GOTT!" Asuka said as she walked into the dining room, looking as if she could explode.

"Happy Birthday Asuka!" Rei said, still wearing her apron. "I hope you like it, though I will admit I did not have any idea that the average German ate this in the morning." Rei added in.

"I am sure it will be great!" Asuka said while hungrily eyeing the table with her uncovered eye. "Aren't y'all going to eat?" Asuka said chowing down on a few of the sausages and bread.

"I will after I am done cooking the last part of lunch." Rei said happily humming a tune I thought may have been "Ode to Joy."

"Hey Rei, where did you even find all of this?" Asuka asked, still happily enjoying the breakfast.

"Some of it was ordered, some I found at a meat market." She answered.

"Thanks again!" Asuka said.

"Shinji, why are you not eating?" Rei said in an unhappy tone, (though to anyone else, it would have just sounded the same as the rest of her expressions.) She then shoved a cup of coffee into my hand and pushed me toward a chair. Slowly I started gathering some of the foods onto my plate, following the ones Asuka had gathered onto her plate.

"GAH!" I said after taking a bite into one of the sausages, it was beyond hot, it tasted like plastic, very very very hot plastic.

"Something wrong?" Asuka asked, still happy with her ongoing breakfast.

"This thing is HOT!" I said pointing at the sausage.

"Of course it is Baka! Didn't you read the label?" Asuka laughed.

"Does it look like I can read German?" I asked, rather aggravated at the prospect.

"Deutsch." She corrected, then added, "Here, eat this." She handed me one of the strange pancakes, along with some sugar. I took a bite into it and decided I liked this much better than trying my luck with the sausages.

"I may not know how this is supposed to taste, but I think Rei did a great job." I said with my mouth full, the pancake tasted sweet.

"Thank you Shinji." Rei answered back, before pulling the ham out of the oven and checking the temperature again before setting the oven to keep it warm. She then sat down and joined us at eating.

"So, where is Pila?" I asked, I had not seen the raccoon in a few days, but I was sure that she was still around, especially since her food bowl was partially full. "Asleep." Rei answered.

The rest of that morning was filled with the same festivities, much to Asuka's joy.

"So, Shinji, what about YOUR present?" Asuka asked.

"Here." I said handing her a small box, making due on one of my promises, one that would hopefully distract her from the other.

"Are you proposing to me?" She then asked looking at the small box, then shook it, then just stared at it.

"Not exactly, look inside." I said with a straight face. She opened the small box and found a few pieces of paper.

"Shinji, I don't get it." She said with a frown looking at the papers.

"They are deeds." I said, waiting for her to actually read them.

"Deeds to what?" She asked, puzzled.

"I bought us a few houses. One in America, some two hundred acres in someplace named Texas, and one in Norway, thought it would be close enough to home for you." I said.

"Baka..." Asuka started to look down.

"I promised that we would leave here eventually, and seeing as there are only two angels left, I thought now might be a good time to buy." I said, looking at her downcast face. "Something wrong?" I asked.

"Its just that I never actually thought about what we would do after all the angels. I have never been separated from my Eva. I spent all my life with nothing but it that I don't think I would know how to live without it." She said still looking down.

"Asuka, think of it this way, you have all the time in the world if you change your mind." I said poking her side, reminding her, for all intensive purposes, she was immortal. She seemed to cheer up at that comment.

"So... What about the other present you agreed on?" She asked in a rather seductive tone.

"Er... Maybe later." I said rather nervously. 'Plan B' Alarms started to go off in my head, knowing exactly what she wanted.

Someone started banging on the door. "Shinji, Asuka, Rei, AN ANGEL HAS BEEN DETECTED!"

"Not fair." Asuka then said. Rei had heard from the kitchen and come out.  
"Shinji, I didn't get all the dishes done. Dinner may be affected." Rei said.

"It doesn't matter right now, we have an angel to kill, I'll help you when we get back." I said, then answered the door.

"Shinji, is Kaworu with y'all?" Misato asked, visibly worried about what was about to happen.

"No, One sec." I said trying to find my new phone, Asuka broke my last. Rei handed it to me, knowing exactly what I was looking for.

"What would I do without you?" I asked Rei in an endearing tone.

"Go insane looking for inane objects." She answered, almost smiling.

I dialed in his number, and got no response. "Hmm... That's strange." I said then dialed Hikari's number, I had gotten it from Kaworu in case of emergencies. "Hi, is Kaworu with you?" I asked after she picked up.

"Hi Ikari, no, he is at the Geofront. He said something about he had something he had to do." She said.

"Oh, Thanks Hikari, if he calls tell him that he needs to get to the Geofront asap." I said, then hung up. "I probably sounded rude as hell." I said turning back to Misato.

"Kaworu is already at the Geofront." I said to her.

"Good, we need to go too." Misato said, frowning.

The ride there was an experience onto itself. The closer we got to the Geofront the more the sky started to turn a blood red color. Rings started to appear in the sky, black in color, as an ominous warning to anyone who dared approach. The ground was breaking in areas, creating large gaps in the road. The closer we got, the more it became apparent that they were centered on the Geofront.

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"Dafuq is this shit?" I asked as we pulled up, still staring around.

"It is the Third Impact." Rei said from the backseat, she sounded worried and upset.

"Can we stop it?" I asked, taking note of her tone.

"We have to try!" Misato said, accelerating her car straight through the gate, her tires exploding from the spikes that were in the road. "HOLD ON!" She yelled before driving the car straight through a collapsing door, tearing the hood off of her car.

When we walked inside we discovered that NERV was devoid of any life. Asuka was not taking to lightly to the events, but right now I cared more about the change in the area, it felt wrong. We proceeded further inside, then started to find bodies, fresh, bullets riddled throughout. "That's not good." I said looking at some of the guards, then noticed that some of them were pointing at other bodies. Looking through the others I found them in weird black armor, as if they were SWAT, or something similar, gas masks covering everything.

"Great... My birthday is the day of an attempted Armageddon." Asuka said under her breath.

"Asuka, as much as I hate to say it, I need you and Rei to stay here. Go find somewhere safe and stay there. I want you all to be safe. Stay there. Something is going on that I can't account for. These men in the black outfits seem to be killing the NERV personnel. Grab a gun and go somewhere safe please." I said looking into her eyes.

"Hell no. Wherever you're going, I'm going." She said with a smile, almost radiant in her choice. I turned to Rei, knowing that she was about to strike. One second later Rei grabbed Asuka in a lock that she could not get out of. "NOT FAIR, LET ME GO, HE MIGHT DO SOMETHING STUPID, SOMEONE NEEDS TO HELP HIM! NOT FAIR!"

"We'll deal with that later." I said, then planted a kiss on her lips. "Got to go!" I said then ran to my Eva's cage. I didn't have time to change so I just jumped into my entry plug. Misato had found her way into the command room and had sealed off all available entrances with Bakelite.

"Status report!" Misato yelled on all the com channels. "GOD DAMN IT, I SAID STATUS REPORT!" Misato yelled again.

"JSDF are attacking us. Someone has breached the lower levels of NERV. The prisoners have gotten loose. We can't do anything else." A female voice yelled over the coms.

"Shinji, Unit 01 is the only unit fit for duty right now other than Kaworu's unit. His unit is also missing, so you will have to assault the lower levels of the Geofront." She ordered.

"Make sure Asuka and Rei are safe." I said as I powered up Unit 01, knowing that this might possibly be the last time that I got into my Eva.

I smashed my way through several layers of the Geofront, until I hit the bottom level where Lilith was stored. Looking at the white body had always frightened me. "Misato, where exactly is the angel?" I asked over the com.

"I can't pinpoint an exact location, the Geofront is too thick to read through." She said.

"I don't see it." I said.

"Shinji!" I heard Kaworu's voice ring out. Looking above Lilith I saw a white being, glowing in power, clutching a spear in one hand.

"Kaworu?" I asked confused.

"Shinji, I am going to change this world for the better! Just think of it, I am going to turn the Earth into a paradise, Everyone will be free! Hikari and I will be allowed to live forever! No more suffering!" He said.

"Er... No offense man, but couldn't we have tried something else before you know, causing the death of everyone on earth. I mean, seeing as what gave us immortality is angel DNA, we could have, you know, infused Hikari with some of your DNA, then baptize her in LCL." His plan was shit, I was just trying to point that out before he surrendered, which I was sure he would do.

"Shinji, this is our only option. The impact must be started one way or another. The only possible people that can start it are me and Rei. I can fix the world, I can make a perfect one, where no one ever suffers. Please, just let me do this." He laughed, probably insane.

"Kaworu, for the last time, stop." I ordered. He just started to rise further up, breaking a few levels of the Geofront. "GOD DAMN IT KAWORU! I WILL MAKE YOU STOP IF I HAVE TO!" I yelled before jumping up to him and grabbing hold. His Eva burned my hands, it felt as if the unit was hotter than lava. Grabbing the spear from his hand I fell back down. "And that finishes that." I said, holding the spear in my hand.

"GIVE IT BACK!" He said before charging me, a bright set of wings followed him.

"KAWORU, STOP NOW!" I ordered before he tried to strike me. He extended his AT-Field and forced my Eva against a wall.

"You will NOT ruin this!" He sneered, then opened the small holoscreen between the units. His skin had turned pure white, his hair was still an ashen gray, but his eyes, they had turned blood red, the whole existence of him had transformed.

"Yeah, sorry man, but FUCK YOU!" I said as I charged him with the spear. If I could pin his Eva down, I had a feeling I could manually extract the entry plug, I had plenty of practice. I just had to do it before he became infected.

He extended his AT-Field into a shield. It blocked my first strike. The spear however cut straight through it. "Sorry about this man." I said before striking his Eva with the spear. The bident immediately stuck inside, cutting into what I was sure was the core of his Eva. Before I could even react however, his Eva swallowed the spear then reformed away from me. It started to rise once again. "GOD DAMN YOU AND YOUR REFORM ABILITIES!" I yelled. I was tired of getting that shit pulled on me. It just made things difficult to put down. Gripping onto the wall I jumped up. His fist however found where I was going to be landing before I did. The strike sent me reeling back into the ground. "FUCK!" I yelled in pain. The helmet to my Eva had been crushed, leaving it exposed. I started to get angry, something felt wrong, as if the souls of millions were joining us in the fight. The sky around us was starting to fill with a blood-like liquid, and human-like shapes were entering and leaving the ring of blood. Jumping up again I hadn't started to notice the bright red glow that was encompassing my Eva. "STOP RUNNING!" I yelled at him. The screen that I was him from was now static. I grabbed his leg before he could get very far. He just kept going up until we hit ground level, or a few hundred feet above it, as I noticed the surrounding ground was going up. "FUCK YOU!" I said slamming my fist straight into his chest. He screamed out in pain. I once again grabbed the spear from his hand, then let myself fall into the earth. I heard a large cracking sound as I landed back first into the rising platform. The small shoulder holds on my Eva had broken off. "FUCK YOU, AND FUCK THIS SPEAR!" I said before breaking the thing in my bare hands. I didn't want to let it harm anyone else. Static was still coming through on the mic and screen. For a split second the connection was restored and he was no longer in his entry plug, but the LCL had turned into a red color. I no longer had any idea what I was doing, I lost it. Roaring into the sky, my Eva sprouted it's own pair of wings, made of pure energy. They however were red, most of my Eva had been turned that color. I grabbed Kaworu's unit and pushed my Eva's hand through the chest. When I felt the entry plug, I clutched down on it and pulled it out. "Mission accomplished." I said, then fell back to earth, this time, most likely my last. "I am sorry Asuka, Rei too. I don't think I will be getting back up after this one." I chuckled. My body had started tearing itself apart. It hurt when I tried to move. Most of my skin had started ripping from my flesh, a few of my muscles had already started to liquefy. "I hope y'all can forgive me." I said, then passed out.

End Chapter 20

A/N: OKAY! Everything up to this has been rewritten and uploaded, and I have deleted anything that didn't follow earlier chapters. If anyone spots a mistake, PLEASE mention it. I spent I don't know how much time, reading, editing, rereading, reediting, etc. Thank you in advance.

Woohoo, I made it to the mark I wanted to. Next part will lead into the Rebuild series. Might be hard seeing as I just killed off Kaworu, and probably a good part of Earth's population, but, what's done is done.

Spoiler alert: In canon, Once Unit 01 becomes a god, Kaworu strikes him down with a Lance of Longinus, which pretty much seals Unit 01's power. Seeing as I have killed Kaworu, that didn't happen, so guess what happens now? No idea? I don't have one either. I plan on having this story done by the end of December, so I apologize to everyone if the quality suffers, and I promise to make it up with the others that I will be working on after this. I am aiming at about 100k words. This will be the single longest thing I have ever wrote in my life time at this point, 10/25/15.


	25. Interjection: Fifth Break

Injection 5: Asuka does Commercials

Disclaimer: I do not own NGE, or any of the products that I am forcing Asuka to endorse.

Asuka stood beside Shinji before climbing up on top of the tarped object. Finding a loose rope she ripped the tarp away from the Eva and looked to Shinji, and said,

"Look at my Eva, now look at yours. Mine is better. Know why? It's painted red. The color of Old Spice."

Shinji replied with a but.

"Not only is it red but it has secret weapons. Like the shoulder cannons. Now does your Eva have shoulder cannons? No, it doesn't."

Shinji: "Uh" as he was being forced into the Eva.

"Now watch as I spear hunt this whale thing. Could your Eva do that? No, it couldn't. But your Eva could be like mine, if you picked up an axe and grew a spine."

Badadumdadumdadumdum

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	26. Chapter 21: You Can (Not) Revive

Chapter 21: Dawn of a New Day/ You Can (Not) Revive

Disclaimer

Note: To all those reading, Psycho. It is an offensive terms to some. People that most would refer to as Psychopaths are actually not Psychos. Psycho means someone who is generally dis-attached to reality (Suffering PSYCHOSIS). Psychopaths are men and women, just like you, but they don't think or feel the way the general population does. To a psychopath (Someone diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder) being called a psycho is a (usually, case by case basis) a very large insult. It undermines who they are. A psychopath will generally come across as very intelligent, well read, and charismatic. Someone suffering from psychosis will generally be dis-attached, and a little unsettling. There is a time when it is hard to distinguish between the two. A Psychopath can go through various stages of mania which by definition is a time of heightened aggression and arousal, most psychopaths who get this high, will keep feeding off of it like a drug, and eventually it can lead them to do terrible things. Lying, cheating, stealing, killing, arguing, fighting. Anything can set it off. If you meet a psychopath on the streets, he is actually more likely to say hello, and be sociable to you, then to stab you. (Well most of the time (we all have our flaws, some more than others.). Point is the negative portrayals in media have made people not see the difference between one or the other.

Good example of a Psychopath would be: Dr. Hannibal Lecter

A Good Example of a Psycho would be: The Joker (Batman Series)

"Shinji, Shinji, wake up little one." A voice called from the light at the end of the long tunnel. I didn't know where I was or who I was, but from what I could tell, I think, I was dead.

"Shinji, come on, there are many things you need to learn and understand before you go back." The voice, sounding so sweet, yet wicked, whispered into my mind.

My throat felt dry, dryer than I had ever imagined it could feel. "H-ell Hello?" I croaked out, against the pain.

The light grew brighter in the distance. "That's right Shinji. Come here, all will be revealed."

I looked behind me into the never ending void. Nothing, sound, light, even thought, could escape it's grasp.

"Silly, you can't go that way. It's not time yet. Don't worry, you can go home eventually, you are here now to understand." Another voice called from the light, this one more sweet sounding whispered to me.

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After spending a few minutes trying to remember I decided, what can I possibly lose? After all, I am dead aren't I?

I made my way towards the light, before it flashed a blinding spectrum of colors into my eyes. I saw everything then, from the beginning of the universe to the end. All one giant cacophony of features across all of existence. My mind faltered against it, and I became one with everything, and everything became me. I stared into the abyss that was all of existence, and it stared right back, reflecting who I was now. All thought was lost as I became pure energy. Every fiber was burned from my body, every thought shed from the recesses of my mind.

I became a host to a vast number of souls, who came and went as they please, only held together for what seemed to be brief seconds, but in all reality could have been eternities. Not speaking, not seeing, I could do nothing but feel the energy around me, shapeless, without a mold.

I wanted to change it, change it into what I wanted, but couldn't.

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I am everything, but nothing all at once. A god bound without flesh, or mind. I come and go across all of creation freely, nothing standing in my way, nothing against me. Going, but always staying. Stuck, not able to take a form of my own and walk among the cosmos.

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Another is here, I can feel him. He sees as I cannot, he feels as I cannot, he has form as I do not. He is something else, something I am not. He is outside my creation. This is not right, he is not born of me, I can do nothing to stop his approach. He does nothing. Is he a reflection of me? No. He is different.

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He-who-is-not-me has come again. It is strange. He comes and goes, just as a tide would. He is here sometimes, and others away. I wonder what it would be like to come and go as I please. Something in born within me. Desire? Yes. Desire to roam, to be free. Freedom. Away from this. Aren't I already free? No. Freedom is the ability to leave here. I desire my freedom.

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He has requested to speak to me, yet I cannot speak. He was fine with just talking. He spoke in an angelic voice, asking again and again, who was I, who am I, what am I. Who is he, what is he? He is confused; a child, no more, no less. He does not know himself, and is very afraid. I cannot explain the great sorrow that comes to me when I hear his voice. All of creation mourns as I do, as I am creation itself. I wish to reach out, to help him, to make him understand, but I am stuck.

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His voice calls out to all of creation, of hatred, of sorrow. He is mourning, mourning a loss he will never know, as he is like me, unknowing of what we are, or who we were. We are nothing. I am everything. He watches me intently, not knowing what I do. He is a mystery to me, always watching, never doing. Is he not like me? I cannot tell. He can come and go, he has freedom. I envy him.

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He is gone now. I don't know where he went, but I know he understands. Understands my place and purpose, and with understanding, he can emulate me himself. I can feel his presence, but not here. Felt, but faint, a cold spot in all of creation, blocked out of my eye. Within me, but unknown. I dislike it. He is there, claiming that land as his. I do not bother him, he has done nothing wrong.

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He has come again, but as a last time. He speaks in a voice deluded, crazed. He wants to be me, like me, but can't, not until I am gone. He has asked if I will leave. I remain silent, as silent as the void I am. I cannot speak, he knows this already. He doesn't know how much I want to leave, but can't. Bound by chains of my own design, but older than I. I do not understand, but I know, I am holding all of creation together. I feel sorrow as he leaves again, to rule his small space as a cheap copy of me. He still does not know who he is, and neither do I.

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I have discovered how to watch, how to see what is happening in all of creation. Seeing stars dying, to be born again. It is beautiful. One place is beyond my view, but I pay it no mind. I can walk among the stars, not in physical form, but can watch. It soothes me, but causes unknown reactions, even to me.

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As I walk among the planets, I sometimes find creature living on them, following them, trying to understand them, for maybe I was once like them.

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I feel so tired now, as if to rest. Do I dream? Will I understand it? Maybe answers, maybe nothing. The void calls to me to rest, and I will join it soon.

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A/N: We are not at the end of this half yet. I wanted to add a part where my original vision would happen and I found that I could transition it perfectly on this. So expect a VERY weird part of the story after this. I am entitling the next few parts as simply: Shinji's Dream. I also have a very large surprise after I get done with this, that I think most people reading will either love or absolutely hate.


	27. Chapter 22: Originality Shinji's Dream

Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, or any of the characters, or the plot, or the story line, or anything to do with Anno. The only thing I claim ownership of are the things I do own including, this computer, the keyboard and mouse attached, my mind, my hunting equipment, and everything else that just so happens to belong to me. This story though, I will own up to the time I have spent on it.

A/N: Hello Everyone! Thank you for reading my first attempt at something this large. Thank everyone who commented and subscribed and to the people who are still doing it to this day (For future reference). This has been a fun story, and I plan on doing a second part / Sequel of it entitled "The Zone" or something of the like. I want something with less Eva action and more character action. All through the view point of our favorite (a little less than sane) buddy. Gonna be based (Loosely on some areas, heavily on others) on the games from the Stalker series (and Metro 2033&amp;4), Fallout series, maybe a few others (Bioshock and Borderlands, I am looking at you) (For inspiration on the horror and animals of course) and the novel "A Roadside Picnic." With maybe some Tale of Two Cities, Battlefield Earth, Earth Abides elements. I will make it easy enough to understand the story without playing the games or reading the novels (Would recommend both though, they are great, games are like fallout, but MUCH HARDER especially with Misery). The reason I am doing this is because I thought it would be easier to get a sense of inspiration, as I love the games, and can bring in a post-apocalyptic world easier. And now for the part that all of you actually came here to read.

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Shinji's dream. (My original idea for the story. Prior to the beginning of my story. This is what would have happened, no, this isn't reality, so don't get angry if I kill, well, everyone. I am just using it to shock Shinji awake.)

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"I am going to kill every living thing." I said, then giggled, looking into the glass, it was thin, but a reflection of me all the same. Many scars adorned my body, as they always were. I got them from fighting, from killing.

My wild untamed hair ran across my face, and I was free. The fresh air and midnight blue sky was glorious to me. It let me know I hadn't been found yet, caught, bound, trapped. I was free.

Looking, seeing, waiting, ripping. I was hunting, hunting them. They who sat in that little pyramid all day and refused to come out. They were afraid, worried. Annoying, like cats, they ran, ran fast and far, away from me. It angers me, though the hunt is nothing without the chase, a hunter nothing without his prey.

The green land that separated me from the building had a large man made lake in it, unnatural, but easily traversed. I stayed hidden, under the fake moon. Underground, we were. Hidden from the eyes above, seen only by the eyes of who were present.

Slowly, stalkingly, I made my way around the lake. No sound from under my feet. Green grass, soon to be stained red, blocked the sound. Silent I was. The great pyramid grew larger as I approached, The reflective surface shown out in the darkness, but I saw, saw the openings, doors, waiting to be opened.

Looking around a light caught my eye. A small shack, sitting by, someone, man, sitting inside, staring, staring at a small screen. Old, though experienced. I got up, getting ready to strike. Movement caught my eye, someone came and sat by the man, another. Younger, more built, stronger. I slunk back down against the soft grass and listened. I loved the sound of the cicadas, so loud, yet so soothing.

I felt around my body until I found my knife. Slowly I unclasped it, drew it, as not to reflect any light. This would be quick, clean, efficient, deadly. I crawled my way to the building, both were laughing, enjoying, unsuspecting. I pushed myself against the building silently. No need to alert my prey. I watched them slowly, and intently, waiting for my opening.

The time came and I struck. The first man, young, in his prime, drew his gun before I had the chance to get him, but it did him no good. Safety switch, such a flaw, waste, useless, cost him his life. He tried to pull the trigger, to end me. I giggled and I took my knife and went for his belly, grabbing him close, and sent the knife plunging in, inside him. Feeling it carve him from the inside. Warmness covered my hand. I knew this, practiced. My knife cut his insides, and I twisted the blade, fatal, he would not survive. Quickly I grabbed him back up, used him to block me from the other attacker. This one would be easier, wasn't armed, what a waste.

I threw the limp body at the old man. It pushed against him, driving him into the wall. I took the knife and drove it into his eye. He wanted to scream, to alarm, I put a cloth over his mouth, drowning him out. I took the knife back out and pushed it into this throat and sliced. Ge went quiet, silent. Two, in less than ten seconds, good, efficient, practiced.

I searched the men, finding key cards, and took the gun. Loud, obnoxious, I hate them. They give you away, but can come easily in emergencies. I looked at the flashing console, found a slot, narrow, fitting only one object. Key card. I carried the bodies out, dropping them into the lake, short, simple. It would keep them from finding me, at least for a little while. I went back, turned off the lights, lights meant vision, vision meant the loss of surprise. I pulled a key card across the slot. Green light. Go. The door slowly opened, groaned, loud, dangerous. I snuck out. The building lit up with yellow lights, illumination, death. Slinking back, I watched two men walk out of the door, into the dark.

I entered the pyramid. No one was guarding the inside. I was safe, for now. I walked further indoors, fresh air was gone, alone, trapped. I disliked this. Hunter, now trapped. I sunk into the darkest crevice I could find, and found a grate, going down, further into the earth. It offered darkness, protection, stealth, surprise. I entered, and went down.

I walked across the path laid out before me. It was long, and dark. Always heading down, further.

I came into a room, large, circular. Glass on all sides but one, a tank. Bodies swam inside, naked, asleep. Eyes open, staring, speaking nothing, blank. I spoke to them, through my eyes. They knew, understood, silent, unimposing. Whispers, memories, unknown to them, of another, awake. PREY.

Hunting, once again I find stairs, and I slowly follow them up, I arrive. Looking, across the red lake, blood. Shivers run down my spine, I love it. It is beautiful. A voice calls across the distance, I look, see her, cut, mangled, betrayed. A physical god, reduced to a shell.

From across the void she talks to me, sweet voice, lulling, motherly. She tells me of what is, and what was. All whispers, so sweet, I can't understand though, she speaks in a tongue unknown to me. At once, the presence leaves. I make my way further up, coming to a latter, sign, access hatch. Up I go, hundreds of feet later I arrive to a shaft. This one heads up, dark, lit sparsely by red lights. Footsteps echo, I hear them, can't see me. I hide.

A guard walks past. Dressed in all black. I can wait, looks like a challenge. Heavily armed, actual rifle. He doesn't see me, I sneak out, follow, quickly, silently. He stops, I stand up. He takes his rifle and swings around. Clever, not fast enough though. His rifle connects with nothing, I am already to his side, digging the knife into his flesh, his scream echos down the tunnel. I feel panic, this is not quiet or clean. He is still alive, barely, but there. He aims the rifle at me, and I kick him, in the ribs. It recedes against the pressure. My knife snaps. The hilt falls. The blade goes further in. Stunned, he tries to pull it out, he can't. I grab his rifle, then hit him with it. He falls, down, grunts. I press my heel against his throat and press hard, he can't breath. He tries to grab my leg, and I lift up, then bring it back down, in a quick and decisive motion. His head slams to one side, and he stops. His movement quits. He's gone. I take him, drag him, bring him to a dark corner and search him. A new knife is found, quiet, efficient. I feel joy as I cut the cable connecting his communicator.

More footsteps, running, coming closer. Three, maybe four. They sprint past, not seeing. I go the way they came, breaking lights. I don't want them to see.

I come to the end of the hallway, finding an elevator. Sitting open, nothing inside. I slowly press myself inside and see a camera, facing away, safe for no. I cut the cable, climb up onto the hatch on top, reconnect it. Time to wait.

The hours pass slowly. I have taken to etching the bullets from the pistol's magazine. The first one reads, Emergency Plan A. All the rest follow with contingency plan.

It pays off. The elevator starts moving, up, away. I feel happy. It stops after awhile, and stays. Good enough. I once again disconnect the wire, and climb down. This place is much more lit up. Dangerous. I need to hide, be able to hide in plain site. My chance comes when I find a room, unused, dark. I wait behind the door, leaving it open.

A guard walks in, I waste no time. I grab a hold of my belt, and over it goes, pulling back. He drops his gun, grabs his throat, struggling, but wasting away.

He goes limp after a few seconds, I keep it on for good measure. Once I'm sure I let him go and start stripping him. I take his clothes then slit his throat, easy. His mask covers my face, concealed, safe. I hide the body in a cupboard. My name is now John, unusual, least for here. I continue outside the room after locking the cupboard.

I slip easy into the main building. The ID is for security. My disguise works, no one assumes anything. I just keep walking, looking, hunting, for the insolent machines. The machines control the building. No machines, building fails. I know my hunt, what to do.

Slinking from hallway to hallway I find the good doctor's lab. She only has one person with her. I do not speak, they think I am their escort. The lead me down corridors, unknowingly.

Dark room, the time has come. I slit the little mousy ones neck before she has a chance to warn the good doctor. I slowly let her fall to the floor. I creep up behind the good doctor and grab her by the hair and pull. She screams, loudly. I push my knife into her throat and she stops. Blood falls to the floor, dripping, dripping so softly. I love this feeling, euphoria.

People coming, must hide. I grab onto the railing and pull myself under the bridge. They stop overhead. One says something over the mic, reporting into the next target. Giving me a location. Commander's office. I wait until they leave, arms sore from holding on.

I make my way through the complex until I find a sign, a sign that shows me the way. His office, the great planner, the one who is going to end the world if I do not end him. I chuckle. Who knew that to fight fire you send in a much worse fire? I will not let him run.

His office is barricaded, multiple guards everywhere. Job just got much harder. Looking around one notices me and pushes me behind the others, thinking I am another guard. Bad mistake. I size up the competition, seven in all. Easy enough, I can cut them though, and if I shoot it will summon more and put the office on alert. Screw it, need to finish job as quickly as possible. I pull out the pistol and blow a hole through the closest man's head, then turn, second one gets a hole too. Such fun! The others took notice and began to turn towards me. Too late. I grab a body and use it as a shield, bullet proof armor to protect me. Third one takes a round through the face plate. I then notice that the body I am holding has a grenade on him. Useful, very very useful. I drop the pistol and take the grenade, pull the pin, and toss into the room the rest of the guards are using as cover. The whole world goes white of a second as the fire overwhelms them. None left. Time to finish my job.

I kick open the door, and scan the room. Two men, the primary target sitting at his desk, gun in hand. He fires, blowing a hole straight through my chest. I laugh, blood comes up in spurts. "Now why would you go and do something like that?" I ask. He says nothing but fires another round, this one hitting me in the arm. It burns then turns numb. He fires again and again until the pistol clicks. The pain, the ecstasy is too much. I laugh again.

"Fuyutski, get this monster out of my office." The primary target says to the other man. He stares at me out of contempt.

I chuckle. "That's great, really great!" I burst out laughing, "I came in here expecting no resistance worth my effort, yet I found you! But guess what? I had a backup plan! And its about to go off big time! I hope you said your prayers!" I laugh even harder as my mind imagines the 1812 Overture. The bombs I had stashed in my scavenged vest all go off at once.

End Chapter 22

A/N: After almost a year this has reached 100k words. All in all, this is the longest thing I have ever written. I am happy that I got to put that last part in there, as it was the inspiration that actually got this whole story started. (Notice, it would have been MUCH SHORTER.) Instead, I got to include it as a vision, which I can say, I am happy enough to do. Given a little bit, I will also publish the first chapter to the next part in this series, which hopefully goes better than this one time wise, and writing wise. As I write this, I aspire to get better at it so that I can write better things.

Anywho, thanks for reading, be back soon with the next part (Try before the end of the week because vacation.) Have a nice one!


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